With the holiday season in full swing, employees rush to clear inboxes, finalize year-end projects, and prepare for time off. But if you think cybercriminals are also clocking out for the holidays, think again.

The holiday season is one of the busiest times for threat actors. With IT teams running lean, attackers see this as a golden opportunity. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) regularly sees a spike in cybercrime reports in early months—clear evidence that many attacks occur during the holidays.

The Naughty List: Common Holiday Cyberthreats

With year-end deadlines, vacation planning, and an influx of personal emails, users are more distracted than usual. Attackers count on reduced attention spans, hurried clicks, and relaxed security habits to slip past defenses unnoticed.

1. Phishing

Phishing attacks surge during holidays as it's the perfect time to exploit human behavior. With inboxes flooded with promotional emails, order confirmations, and shipping notifications, employees are more likely to fall for fake messages.

Cybercriminals now use GenAI to craft phishing emails that closely resemble legitimate correspondence. According to recent research, AI-automated attacks achieved a 54% click-through rate—outperforming arbitrary phishing by 350%.

Common holiday-themed phishing scams:
- Fake order receipts: Emails confirming purchases users never made
- Spoofed shipping notifications: Messages pretending to be from UPS or FedEx
- Falsified charitable donation requests: Impersonating trusted nonprofits
- Fake gift card alerts: Claims of receiving holiday gift cards

These emails use urgency and festive language to entice clicks before users can consider their actions.

2. Ransomware

Ransomware attacks are calculated, methodical, and increasingly common during holidays. Cybercriminals know stretched IT teams and slower response times provide the perfect opportunity.

Typical ransomware attacks start with successful phishing, compromised credentials, or unpatched vulnerabilities. Once inside, attackers quietly escalate privileges, move laterally, and identify critical assets before launching the ransomware payload.

What makes holiday ransomware especially dangerous is timing. Many attackers intentionally schedule attacks late Friday afternoon or just before long weekends—often through time bombs or delayed execution commands.

With fewer staff monitoring during weekends or holidays, even short delays in detection give threat actors significant advantages. By the time action is taken, key systems may already be encrypted.

3. Business Email Compromise (BEC)

BEC attacks rely on social engineering rather than malware. Cybercriminals compromise or spoof legitimate business email accounts to impersonate executives, finance officers, or vendors, then send convincing emails requesting wire transfers, invoice payments, or sensitive information access.

During holidays, BEC scams increase because:
- Employees are more distracted and less likely to verify suspicious requests
- Executives may be on vacation, making impersonation easier
- Finance teams processing year-end transactions create more opportunities for fraudulent payments to go unnoticed

A single successful BEC attack can result in significant financial loss and damaged business relationships.

4. Credential Stuffing

The holiday season sees increased credential stuffing—brute-force attacks where cybercriminals use stolen username/password combinations to gain unauthorized account access.

With many people shopping online, logging into holiday services, or using personal devices for work, there's increased risk of credentials being reused across platforms. If attackers obtain credentials from a retail site breach, they may attempt using them across business applications, cloud platforms, or VPNs.

How credential stuffing works:

  1. Attackers acquire credentials from previous breaches or leaks
  2. They use automated tools to try these credentials across login portals
  3. If the same credentials are used elsewhere, attackers gain access without triggering traditional intrusion alerts
During holidays, employees are more likely to use personal devices, access work apps remotely, or log in from unsecured networks—all increasing successful credential stuffing chances.

The Nice List: A Holiday Cybersecurity Checklist

To protect your organization during the holidays:

✅ Conduct security awareness training before the holiday rush
✅ Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all systems
✅ Enable email filtering to block phishing attempts
✅ Patch and update systems before staff leaves
✅ Monitor for anomalous activity even with reduced staffing
✅ Test backup and recovery processes to ensure rapid recovery
✅ Establish incident response protocols for skeleton crews
✅ Limit access permissions during vacation periods
✅ Deploy endpoint protection on all devices, including remote ones
✅ Maintain BCDR readiness with verified, air-gapped backups

The holidays are a time for celebration—not cybersecurity crises. By understanding common threats and implementing proactive defenses, MSPs and IT teams can help organizations stay secure when it matters most.

Source: Datto Blog