Every December, as workplaces wind down into a mix of end-of-year wrap-ups, office parties and questionable jumper choices, something else stirs in the digital world. Holiday music fills the radio, fairy lights appear across cities, and attackers quietly get to work. Because while most people are looking to switch off, the threat landscape absolutely isn’t. In fact, the festive period is often one of its busiest.

It’s the perfect mixture of distraction, reduced staffing and hurried decisions. And that’s why this season requires heightened vigilance. So let’s take a tour of the biggest holiday-season cyber threats and why they appear like clockwork every year.

Holiday Threat #1: Festive Phishing Frenzies

December is the Olympics of phishing. Attackers know people are tired, distracted and rushing to get everything done before the break. That combination is a gift to them. All they have to do is wrap a malicious link in a festive-themed email and wait. Data from Check Point shows that phishing alerts surge by 46 % during December compared to the monthly average.

Fake parcel delivery updates. Bogus order confirmations. Gift card scams. Fake charity appeals. Holiday party invitations. End-of-year invoices with suspicious urgency.

Every December, there are organisations forced to deal with incidents that began with a single seasonal email someone clicked before stopping to think. Holiday cheer does not extend to the inbox.

Holiday Threat #2: Reduced Monitoring and Skeleton Crews

While staff enjoy time off, attackers enjoy the silence. Security teams shrink for the holidays. SOCs run with fewer analysts. Response times slow down. Alerts pile up.

A compromise on Christmas Eve can escalate all the way into ransomware by New Year without anyone noticing. That’s why holiday periods require monitoring that doesn’t sleep which is why automation, coverage planning and proper escalation paths matter more than ever.

Attackers don’t take holidays. Visibility shouldn’t either.

Holiday Threat #3: Cloud Misconfigurations Discovered Too Late

The end of the year is when forgotten configuration mistakes suddenly come home to roost. Unsecured storage buckets, exposed ports, overly generous access policies, forgotten test environments all become prime targets.

Misconfigurations sit quietly until someone finds them. And in December, attackers look harder because defences can dip.

We regularly see holiday breaches originating from a misconfiguration made months earlier. The festive slowdown simply gives attackers a clearer shot.

Holiday Threat #4: Ransomware crews making their move

For ransomware groups, the holidays are jackpot season. Darktrace found that, globally, attempted ransomware attacks rise by around 30 % on average during the holiday period compared to the typical monthly rate.

They know staffing is low, SOCs are stretched, and no one wants to be on call between Christmas and New Year. If they gain initial access in early December, they wait patiently until the office empties and then begin encrypting.

Holiday ransomware events are often devastating because no one is around to intervene. By the time staff return in January, the damage is already done.

Holiday Threat #5: End-of-Year Rush Leading to Risky Shortcuts

December is peak shortcut season. People rush to meet deadlines and clear their workload. And that’s when risky decisions slip through:

Temporary access granted “just for now”.
Security settings switched off “to make something work”.
Sensitive data forwarded to personal accounts “to finish later”.
Unapproved tools used “because it’s quicker”.

Attackers adore shortcuts.

Holiday Threat #6: Supply Chain Weaknesses Worsen

Seasonal suppliers, temporary systems and new integrations often appear in December. Many are onboarded quickly. Too quickly.

A compromise through a smaller vendor can escalate rapidly when monitoring is thin and teams are overstretched.

How Integrity360 Can Help You Stay Secure Over the Holidays

The holiday season may be a favourite time for attackers, but organisations don’t need to enter December unprepared. Integrity360 provides a range of services designed to strengthen resilience when it matters most.

• Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
  With 24/7 threat monitoring, analysis and response, MDR ensures your environment is watched even when your office is quiet. Alerts are investigated in real time, suspicious activity is rapidly contained, and you maintain visibility throughout the break — no matter how many staff are off.
• Incident Response Readiness and Retainer Support
  If the worst happens, having expert responders on standby can reduce the impact dramatically. Our specialists help you prepare for incidents before they occur, streamline your escalation paths and ensure you know exactly what to do if something becomes suspicious over the holidays.
• Cloud Security and Posture Management
  Misconfigurations are one of the most common causes of holiday-period breaches. Integrity360 helps organisations identify exposures, harden their cloud environments, and ensure identity, access and configuration settings are locked down before staffing levels drop.
• Phishing and Security Awareness Training
  Seasonal scams rely on users being distracted. Our training and simulations prepare staff to spot festive-themed phishing attempts, question suspicious messages and make safer decisions. Awareness is one of the strongest seasonal defence mechanisms.
• Threat and Exposure Management (CTEM and ASM)
  Holiday attacks often begin with exposed assets attackers discover during automated scanning. Continuous exposure management helps ensure forgotten systems, shadow IT and misconfigured cloud resources don’t become points of entry.
• Advisory and Governance Support
  From revising access policies to reviewing incident response plans, conducting pre-holiday risk assessments or improving monitoring coverage, our experts help you put the right controls in place before the seasonal slowdown.

Silent Nights Can Still Be Secure Nights

The holiday period will always attract opportunistic attackers. But with the right preparation, visibility and support, organisations can enjoy a calm and incident-free December.

With good cyber hygiene and the right expertise behind you, the only things lighting up your holidays will be decorations and not your security alerts. If you need assistance with your cyber security get in touch with our experts.