Why Do Cyber Attacks Increase During the Holiday Season?
Have you wondered why there’s an increase in cyberattacks during the holidays? If not, this post will serve as an introductory guide to understanding what makes cyberattacks spike during the holiday season.
Once you learn the causes, you’ll be able to protect your business with the right IT solutions.
Worker Distraction
Cybersecurity often becomes the least of priorities around the holidays. Every business is more occupied than usual, so your teams may be distracted with deadlines, responding to customer queries and prepping for the change in consumer patterns.
With all this chaos, it’s natural to shift your focus from cybersecurity. Your employees may miss a potential attack or perform subpar cyber hygiene. According to data, 95% of security breaches occur due to human error. So if your employees are already distracted, it paves the way for cyberattacks.
Network Strain
Your business network will be under more stress than usual during the holidays. Web traffic can make your system more prone to hacking and phishing attacks. Cybercriminals know this and use this time to slip into your server without being detected.
Many businesses don’t prepare for increased traffic which causes delays and downtimes. DDoS (distributed denial of service) is a common cyberattack during network strain.
More Valuable Data
Another reason for the uptick in cyberattacks during the holidays is because of the value of data. For instance, 24% of cyberattacks were aimed at retailers in 2020. Since shopping increases, brands have more customer data which attackers can use for various purposes.
Therefore, businesses are an appealing target during ther holidays. E-commerce is one of the major victims of cyberattacks and this trend is expected to grow in upcoming years.
Phishing is Effective
Since people are busy shopping online, their vulnerability is also at a record high. Hackers use phishing attacks during the holiday season because people already receive a bunch of promo emails.
It makes it easier to impersonate a third party to attempt a phishing attack. These attacks are profitable for cybercriminals who can steal user credentials for malicious activities.
Cybersecurity is Important Around Holiday Season!
Make your network and server bulletproof with our cybersecurity services. At SunRiver IT, we offer an all-inclusive but customized IT solution that includes managed IT services, IT compliance services and IT security consulting solutions.
We support small and medium-sized businesses in Nashville so they can build strong defenses around their network and security systems. Call us to start your IT plan today!