The holiday season is a peak period for cyberattacks. As businesses celebrate and employees step away from regular routines, vulnerabilities multiply, creating an ideal environment for cybercriminals. Understanding why these threats surge during the holidays and how to address them can help organisations maintain security while enjoying the festive season.
Why Cyberattacks Rise During the Holidays
- Reduced IT Staffing
During holidays, IT teams often operate at reduced capacity or with skeleton crews. This leaves fewer eyes monitoring for threats or responding to potential breaches. Cybercriminals exploit these gaps in vigilance, launching attacks when they are less likely to encounter immediate resistance. This trend is particularly pronounced in industries like retail and e-commerce, where IT departments are stretched thin managing high-volume traffic alongside reduced staff.
- Distracted or Complacent Employees
The holiday atmosphere can lead to lapses in attention. Employees may overlook phishing attempts in their rush to clear inboxes before time off or may fail to follow proper protocols while multitasking.
Scams also often rely on emotional triggers, such as urgent messages about account closures or fake delivery notifications. During holidays, these tactics align with employees’ focus on personal celebrations, increasing their effectiveness.
- Higher Stakes for Organisations
Many businesses, especially in retail and logistics, see increased transactions and customer activity during the holidays. This creates lucrative targets for attackers seeking to disrupt operations or steal valuable data. The high volume of transactions also makes it harder to detect anomalies, allowing malicious activity to go unnoticed until significant damage is done.
- Risks of Remote Work
Holidays often coincide with remote work or hybrid arrangements, where employees access systems from home or while travelling. Remote connexions can introduce vulnerabilities, especially if workers use unsecured public Wi-Fi, outdated personal devices or weak passwords. Cybercriminals exploit these weak points, targeting home networks or personal devices to infiltrate corporate systems.
Top Cyber Threats During the Holiday Season
- Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks spike during holidays, often disguised as holiday offers, fake package delivery notices or charitable donation requests. Increased online shopping and donation activities provide more opportunities for attackers to mimic legitimate communications.
For example, attackers may impersonate popular brands, sending “urgent” emails about account issues or shipping problems.
How to avoid phishing attacks: Regular security awareness training, combined with phishing simulations, is essential for equipping employees to confidently recognise and respond to phishing attempts, significantly reducing the risk of breaches. These simulations provide hands-on experience in spotting and reporting suspicious activity, reinforcing the knowledge gained through training.
However, even with thorough preparation, mistakes can happen, which is why implementing phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA) is crucial. Solutions like passkeys offer an additional layer of protection, helping mitigate risks even when employees inadvertently fall for phishing attempts.
- Ransomware
Holidays are prime times for ransomware attacks, as businesses are more likely to pay quickly to avoid disruptions during peak seasons. With fewer IT staff on call and the added pressure to keep everything running smoothly during the holidays, ransomware attackers find the perfect opportunity to cause chaos.
Small and medium businesses are particularly at risk, as they may lack robust defences or contingency plans.
How to avoid ransomware attacks: To defend against ransomware, maintain regular offline backups to restore data if files are encrypted, and store backups separately from your network. Ensure all software is updated, as ransomware often exploits vulnerabilities in outdated programs.
Monitor systems for unusual activity, like unexpected file encryption or traffic spikes, and use advanced tools for faster detection. Application whitelisting further strengthens security by only allowing authorised programs to run, blocking unauthorised or malicious software.
- Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks
DDoS attacks overwhelm a network or website with excessive traffic, rendering it inaccessible. These attacks can cripple e-commerce platforms during critical shopping days like Black Friday or Christmas sales.
High traffic volumes during holidays make it easier for attackers to disguise malicious spikes as legitimate surges, and the financial impact of downtime is much greater.
How to avoid DDoS attacks: To avoid DDoS attacks, use scalable, cloud-based mitigation services to absorb malicious traffic and ensure continuous availability. Real-time threat monitoring detects anomalies early, and tools like rate-limiting and web application firewalls (WAFs) provide additional protection by controlling request volumes and blocking harmful attempts.
Minimise attack surfaces by disabling unused ports, restricting traffic to trusted sources, and using load balancers to spread network activity. Implementing redundant systems and failover mechanisms, like backup servers, ensures operational continuity during attacks. Regular security audits address vulnerabilities, bolstering your overall defence against disruptions.
- Holiday Scams
Cybercriminals often exploit the holiday spirit through scams such as fake charities, fraudulent gift card offers or counterfeit e-commerce sites. These scams aim to steal money or personal information, leveraging the increased generosity and urgency of the season.
The rise in online shopping and donations, coupled with less careful spending habits during the holidays, creates fertile ground for these scams.
How to avoid holiday scams: Educating employees about holiday scams is crucial. Train staff to spot red flags like unsolicited messages and suspiciously attractive deals. Encourage verifying websites before purchases and reporting suspicious activity. Awareness campaigns ensure employees can recognise and respond to threats effectively.
Strengthen defences with encrypted payment systems and two-factor authentication for sensitive accounts. Use secure payment methods and update software to block emerging threats. Regularly monitor transactions for unusual activity to quickly mitigate potential scams.
The Importance of 24×7 Monitoring Over the Holidays
Holidays are a time for celebration, but they also come with increased risks of cyberattacks. By understanding the common threats and why they occur, organisations can implement preventative measures to keep their systems secure.
Continuous monitoring ensures that businesses remain vigilant, even when employees are away. Managed IT services provide real-time threat detection and response, enabling organisations to maintain security without relying solely on in-house staff. This proactive approach is particularly critical for small and medium businesses, which are often more vulnerable to attacks due to limited resources.
If you’re looking for Managed IT services, look no further than Insentra. Specialising in proactive IT support, we minimise downtime, manage support requests and assume ownership of your environment when needed. Consider us an extension of your team, supporting your growth within budget.
Contact us today to start setting up your holiday cybersecurity strategy.