This article demonstrates the critical role of robust cybersecurity infrastructure in protecting democratic processes from sophisticated state-sponsored cyberattacks. It highlights the effectiveness of advanced DDoS mitigation in maintaining online service availability during high-stakes events.
On Sunday, September 28, 2025, the Republic of Moldova held a parliamentary election that was described as a referendum on its geopolitical future. The election was conducted amid claims of Russian interference, both online and offline. Ensuring the security of the election infrastructure was a critical priority, not just to protect the vote count, but to guarantee the system's resilience so that all Moldovans could access authoritative information about the election.
We were proud to support the Moldovan Central Election Commission (CEC) ahead of their September 28th election. Consistent with public reporting, cyberattacks were not the story; the focus remained on the democratic process. We want to share what we found as we provided assistance to the CEC on election day.
The 2025 elections in Moldova were viewed by many as a defining moment for the country. Specifically, it pitted the countries' pro-European government against an opposition seeking closer alignment with Russia. The entire election process was carried out under intense pressure from foreign interference, employing a wide range of hybrid tactics. Beyond disinformation and illegal funding, the Moldovan state faced constant digital threats and was on high alert for planned post-election violence aimed at promoting distrust in the country's democratic institutions. For the nation, ensuring the security and integrity of the election was a priority.
Several days before the election, Cloudflare onboarded the Moldova Central Election Commission (CEC), amid concerns over increasing cyberattacks. Since 2017, through the Athenian Project, we have provided protection to over 450 state and local government election entities in the United States. We were able to provide this expertise to the CEC and in less than a week we onboarded many of their election websites and quickly deployed mitigation strategies to help prepare them for election day.
Cloudflare data shows that the Moldovan Election Commission experienced significant cyber attacks during the recent elections. From September 27 to September 29, 2025, our data shows how Moldovan citizens used the Internet to follow the political process and highlights the efforts by malicious actors to disrupt key election services.
For example, on September 28, 2025, the Moldovan Central Election Commission (CEC) experienced a series of concentrated, high-volume (DDoS) attacks strategically timed throughout the day. The attack began in the morning at 09:06:00 UTC and lasted for over twelve hours and ended as the official result reporting was underway at 21:34:00 UTC. In total, we mitigated over 898 million malicious requests directed at the CEC over the twelve-hour period.
Cloudflare systems categorized this activity into 11 attack "chunks" — which is a term used to denote a multi-wave pattern indicating a sophisticated attack. These initial bursts began during peak afternoon voting hours, with one of the most intense chunks, Chunk 5, striking before the polls closed at 15:31:00 UTC and hitting the largest recorded peak of 324,333 requests per second (rps).
Malicious traffic continued after the polls officially closed (18:00 UTC), directly targeting the result reporting phase. Multiple sustained waves, including attacks that peaked at over 243,000 rps, were mitigated. Fortunately, Cloudflare's automated defenses successfully stopped the attacks in real-time, ensuring the CEC website remained online and accessible for Moldovan citizens.
The Moldovan government confirmed the attacks, as the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Service (STISC) reported a wide-ranging campaign targeting the CEC.md platform, government cloud systems, and diaspora voting stations. STISC also confirmed that the attacks were successfully neutralized, without any impact on the availability or integrity of electoral services.
“On behalf of the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Service (STISC), the institution technically responsible for ensuring cybersecurity of the electoral process conducted by the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova on 28 September, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude for your outstanding support. We truly appreciate the opportunity to use your advanced systems and enterprise licenses during this critical period. Despite facing numerous DDoS attacks, thanks to your effective protection, no service interruptions were experienced, and the public remained unaffected.” - STISC Team, Information Technology and Cybersecurity Service, Republic of Moldova
“Cloudflare’s support was essential for Moldova’s parliamentary elections, ensuring uninterrupted access to real-time results for citizens at home and abroad. Their resilient infrastructure allowed us to withstand heavy DDoS attacks and protect the integrity of the democratic process.” - Anatolie Golovco, Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation Expert in the Office of the Prime Minister of Moldova
While the Central Election Commission was the primary target, it was not the only one. On September 28, 2025, Cloudflare mitigated hundreds of millions of malicious requests aimed at Moldovan election-related, civil society and news websites. The Commission’s site absorbed the largest share, peaking near 900 million requests in a single day. But it wasn’t alone: a civic participation portal, democracy related services, a relevant broadcaster, and independent news outlets also saw significant DDoS traffic. As the chart shows, these combined attacks created a surge of hostile traffic on election day, showing what seems to be a campaign against both official institutions and public information channels.
One particularly intense application-layer wave hit a democracy-related parliamentary site, peaking at over 243,000 requests per second.
These attack patterns mirrored those against the election authority, suggesting a coordinated effort to disrupt both official election processes and the public information channels voters rely on. Cloudflare’s automated protections mitigated these multi-wave attacks in real time, keeping critical information channels available throughout the electoral timeline.
Democracies around the world are increasingly targeted by cyberattacks. Through our Impact programs, we strive to keep websites vital to democracy — like voter registration sites, election information portals, campaign websites, and news sites — secure and available. From monitoring traffic patterns to mitigating cyberattacks, Cloudflare has observed trends that show the importance of online services during elections and the increasing attacks targeting them.
In the Moldovan parliamentary elections, the pro-Western governing party won a clear majority, defeating pro-Russian groups. We are proud to have provided services to the Moldovan Central Election Commission in securing the vote, ensuring that citizens—not malicious actors—determined the country's future. To learn more about the Athenian Project, visit: https://www.cloudflare.com/athenian/
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