I hate to ruin your weekend, but statistics show that cyberattacks are more likely on holidays!
CISA and the FBI have identified an ongoing trend for increased cyberattacks on high-value targets (such as financial institutions) on holidays. CrowdStrike and Sophos have reported that organizations are 60-70% more likely to suffer a ransomware incident over a holiday versus a non-holiday.
The bad guys may choose these times for several reasons.
1. Reduced IT staffing and longer “dwell time.”
2. IT teams may have delayed patching for longer weekends which opens the window for exploits.
3. Symbolic impact – IT teams and the businesses may feel a bigger psychological impact from disruptions during holidays.
4. Increased use of personal or unsecured devices by remote staff.
Some notable examples of attacks over holidays include several from 2021, such as the Colonial Pipeline on Mother’s Day, Kaseya attack on July 4th, the JBS Foods on Memorial Day, and the LastPass breach on Thanksgiving 2022.
As the Boy Scouts say, “Be Prepared.” Take additional measures to prepare for the longer holiday weekends. Have discussions with your teams about support coverage and make sure that your incident response team is prepared for the holiday. Ensure that your IT teams are still monitoring critical systems and will be able to respond to security alerts. Attempt to have your cybersecurity hygiene as clean as possible prior to the weekend (patching, backups, remote access controls…).
Now, go enjoy the holiday weekend!
Neovera SV (formerly 10-D Security) is an independent firm specializing in IT security and compliance for financial institutions. We help clients mitigate risk and comply with GLBA requirements, offering tailored services and expertise to strengthen cybersecurity programs.