Why The Holidays Are a Prime Time For Cyber Threats

Many people probably think of the holidays as a joyful time that’s meant for celebration, but unfortunately they’ve become an excellent opportunity for bad actors to carry out cyberattacks. It’s likely that the fact that many people take time off of work during these times of the year that give individuals the chance to do things they might not otherwise have been able to at any other point. When it comes time for people to return to work, it’s likely that they might not even notice that anything happened.

Perhaps one of the most common attacks that result from understaffed conditions has come in the form of the so-called rootkit installation. This sees someone sneak a modified package onto a remote computer when nobody’s around that gives them backdoor access regardless of how well-maintained the computer otherwise is. Even the most secured network could theoretically fall afoul of this kind of attack if someone has at least some form of physical access to a machine.

Other problems aren’t necessarily the result of staffing consideration as they are related to certain trends during the holidays themselves. For instance, charity scams are extremely common during the month of December since people tend to be in a more charitable mood at that time of year and might be more likely to give money when asked. These scams don’t require any sort of technological sophistication to carry out, either. All that’s needed is a modern connection to the long distance network and a list of phone numbers to call, so it’s important to be vigilant when sharing any sort of contact information before the holiday break.

Shopping is another major concern as well, and shoppers have to stay just as vigilant to be sure that they don’t end up feeding money or their identification to a bad actor. If a deal looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Companies offering to sell software at a deep discount are among the most likely to be connected to fraudalant activity, since these offer a convenient way to gain access to someone’s computer.

Naturally, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be prepared like this the whole year, but it’s important to pay extra attention during year-end holidays in particular. Almost no information technology provider would ever ask you for a password or have you turn any details over to them. Therefore, if you get any requests for these kinds of things all of a sudden you can be sure they’re part of a scam. Make sure to install hotfixes before everyone leaves. If you have a New Year’s party or anything similar at your place of business, then pick the day before to get everything squared away.

Operating system updates will probably come in much more slowly during the holidays, but you’ll still want to pick a certain time to install them. Though all of this might sound like quite a bit of work, it can save a great deal of time in the long run.