During the pre-holiday rush, ShopEase’s checkout portal was targeted by a stealthy Layer 7 assault that mimicked genuine user behavior. Over a 48-hour window, hundreds of slow POST requests opened sessions without completing transactions, tying up server threads and exhausting backend resources. Traffic volumes remained within normal thresholds, so traditional rate limits and IP bans never triggered. Meanwhile, real customers encountered timeouts, abandoned carts, and repeated error messages. Conversion rates plummeted by 30%, and revenue losses were estimated at $150,000. Social media and customer support channels lit up with complaints about checkout failures, dealing a further blow to the brand’s reputation. The incident forced the IT team to engage an adaptive behavioral WAF and on-demand scrubbing services to restore service continuity and rebuild customer trust.