The Winter Games effect: When gold meets DDoS

Major international events attract not just global audiences but also distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games proved no exception: DDoS attack volume against Italian infrastructure in the country surged 181 percent over 2025 levels, which were themselves elevated by sustained NoName057(16) campaigns. Attackers treated the Winter Games calendar as an operational playbook, escalating two weeks before opening ceremonies and terminating abruptly after the e