How to Protect Your Business from Holiday Scams

Cyberattacks peak during the holidays—discover common business mistakes and expert tips to safeguard your business against holiday scams  As the holiday season approaches, cybercriminals ramp up their efforts to exploit organization’s vulnerabilities and trick organizations into their holiday scams.

An alarming 86% of organizations that experienced data breaches and ransomware attacks were targeted on holidays or weekends. Let's see some examples of data breaches amid the Christmas holidays:

• California-based insurance giant First American disclosed a data breach affecting 44,000 individuals in December 2023, just before Christmas. The data incident forced the company to shut down some systems, including its website, and pay a $1 million settlement for insufficient data protection.
• Just before Christmas, a key retail period VF Corporation, the U.S. owner of popular apparel brands like Vans, Supreme, and The North Face, announced a cyberattack that disrupted its operations. The attack involved hackers encrypting some IT systems and stealing data, including personal information, indicating a ransomware incident.
   

Meanwhile, one of the most notorious holiday-related breaches in history is, indisputably, an infamous Target data breach in 2013.

• The Target data breach impacted over 40 million customers during the holiday shopping rush and remains one of the most notorious holiday-related breaches in history.

The holiday scams and data breaches highlight the increased vulnerability of businesses during the holiday season. The FBI and CISA warn businesses to protect themselves against cybercriminals trying to fraudulently divert payments during the holiday season.  

So, let’s learn why cyberattacks soar during the holidays, the main mistakes businesses make that lead to holiday scams, and the main tips to prevent from falling victim to criminals.  

Why Cyberattacks Soar During the Holidays?

Cyberattacks spike during the holidays for several reasons, as cybercriminals exploit the unique vulnerabilities of this time of year. Here's why:

• Increased online shopping activity
• Reduced IT oversight
• Human error amid the holiday rush
• Supply chain vulnerabilities
• Sophisticated holiday-themed scams
• Delayed incident detection
   

By understanding these seasonal risks, businesses can proactively defend against holiday-themed cyber threats. Let’s see the main cybersecurity risks amid holidays along with the ways to mitigate them.  

Increased online shopping activity

The holiday season brings a surge in online shopping activity, creating an ideal environment for cybercriminals to exploit businesses and their employees. The increase in personal shopping during work hours means more credit card numbers, home addresses, and login credentials. Additionally, holiday phishing scams, such as fake promotions, notifications, or “Secret Santa” invitations, flood inboxes, luring employees into clicking malicious links. Cybercriminals often disguise these holiday shopping scams to appear as legitimate holiday offers or charitable appeals, making them harder to detect.

Prevention Tips

• Educate employees to avoid using corporate accounts for personal shopping and to recognize phishing attempts by carefully verifying email links.
• Implement robust encryption and tokenization for payment data to protect sensitive information.
• Leverage real-time anomaly detection tools to identify and block suspicious activity.
• Utilize email filters to reduce phishing emails and conduct regular simulated phishing tests to strengthen employee awareness and response.
 

See more common tips to fight phishing.  

Personal devices for working purposes

As more employees travel or work remotely amid holidays, the risk of cyberattacks increases, especially when they use personal or unsecured devices. Hackers target unsecured devices and networks that aren’t protected by corporate security measures. For instance, employees connecting to public Wi-Fi in airports, hotels, or cafes are prime targets for attackers seeking to intercept sensitive corporate data or compromise systems. To mitigate these risks, organizations should consider the following measures for mobile device security:

Prevention tips

• Roll out a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy with mandatory security protocols.
• Provide Secure VPN Access that encrypts data transmissions, making it harder for hackers to intercept and access sensitive information.
• Cybersecurity Training: Regularly educate employees on best practices for maintaining security while working remotely, such as recognizing phishing attempts and avoiding suspicious links.
• Provide portable Wi-Fi hotspots and educate staff on the risks of unsecured networks.

Reduced IT oversight

Reduced IT oversight during the holiday season can create significant security vulnerabilities. With staffing shortages and out-of-office auto-replies, hackers can identify when security teams are less active and more likely to have delayed responses. This opens up an opportunity for cybercriminals to deploy ransomware attacks or attempt data exfiltration. The combination of reduced IT staff and the distraction of holiday operations can lead to overlooked alerts and slower incident detection, giving attackers the time they need to exploit these gaps.

Prevention tips

• Implement continuous security monitoring or consider outsourcing to a trusted Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) to ensure vigilance even when in-house teams are reduced.
• Avoid disclosing sensitive information, such as office hours or detailed staffing levels, in out-of-office auto-replies, as this can signal to attackers when the organization is most vulnerable.
• Make sure essential systems have alternative monitoring solutions in place, so any potential threats can be detected and addressed without delay.
   

Supply chain weaknesses

Supply chain vulnerabilities pose significant cybersecurity risks, as vendors and partners may sometimes lower their security defenses, creating potential entry points for hackers. Attackers can exploit these lapses to gain unauthorized access to an organization’s systems through compromised third-party relationships. These weaknesses are particularly concerning because they can lead to data breaches, system disruptions, or the introduction of malicious software into a company's network.

Prevention tips

• Ensure that all vendors and partners adhere to robust cybersecurity practices.
• Conduct regular third-party security reviews.
• Restrict access to sensitive data and systems to only those third parties that absolutely need it.
• Employ stringent access controls and monitoring to prevent unauthorized activity.
   

By prioritizing these measures, organizations can strengthen their defenses against potential threats originating from their supply chain, safeguarding both their data and their operations.

Rushed end-of-year projects

The end-of-year period is often marked by high-pressure projects and tight deadlines. Hackers take advantage of this rushed atmosphere, knowing that employees may prioritize speed over security and bypass standard security protocols. Common mistakes include ignoring important software warnings or skipping defined testing and configuration steps. Such a pre-holiday rush increases the likelihood of human errors and unintentional insider threats that criminals exploit in their holiday scams.  

Prevention tips

• Follow all required security protocols when working on projects.
• Remind workforce members about the importance of following established processes.
• Increase security awareness to ensure the end-of-year rush does not lower the workforce members' guards.
 

End-of-year budget spending

The end-of-year period is a prime time for financial transactions as businesses rush to finalize budgets, process payments, and complete procurement activities. This increased volume of financial activity can attract cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities through tactics such as invoice fraud and business email compromise (BEC). Hackers often impersonate trusted vendors or internal employees to deceive financial teams into transferring funds to fraudulent accounts or authorizing fake payments, leading to significant financial losses.

Prevention tips

• Always confirm the legitimacy of payment instructions by contacting the requester through a trusted communication channel before processing.
• Educate teams on recognizing signs of phishing and social engineering tactics commonly used in BEC attacks.
• Apply MFA to sensitive systems to add an additional layer of security for accessing sensitive information and authorizing transactions.
   

By taking these proactive measures, organizations can better protect their financial operations from cybercriminals looking to exploit end-of-year budget activities. Don’t let hackers celebrate at your expense! Implement these safeguards to ensure your business stays secure during the holiday season.  

If you were still unhappy with becoming a victim of cybercriminals amid the holidays, see what a good incident response should look like.  

How Planet 9 can help

At Planet 9, we understand that cybersecurity is a critical concern for businesses of all sizes. We also know how many organizations, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs), struggle to allocate their budgets. Our tailored services are designed to optimize your cybersecurity investments without compromising security. To protect your business from holiday scams and data breaches, we offset the following services:  

• virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) to provide strategic guidance and oversight, helping shape the organization’s security posture.
• Security risk assessment to help understand where the risks are especially high.
• Information security program to execute the organization’s strategy for addressing risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.
     

Planet 9 can help secure your business and save money by delivering practical information security and compliance programs, security risk assessments, compliance evaluation, and certification readiness.

Our expertise and experience will help your business to mitigate the need to recruit and retain expensive staff.  Schedule a free consultation today to explore how Planet 9 can help you achieve your security and compliance goals.