The holidays are a good time for cyber attacks

Over the past several years, we have seen a significant uptick in the frequency of major cyber attacks during the holiday season. This should come as no surprise, many cybersecurity teams will be working short staffed, with members taking well-earned holiday breaks in order to spend time with friends and family. Threat groups worldwide see this as an opportunity.

Last year we saw the devastating SolarWinds supply-chain attack. While that attack had began with a compromise many months prior, it was weaponized during the holiday season, with FireEye's discovery of the attack occurring in December of 2020.

This year, CISA and the FBI are warning organizations to take extra precautions by following several steps. They aren't indicating they are aware of any specific major threats, but then again, no one saw the SolarWinds attack coming either.

Ransomware remains a critical threat to any organization. The most common way to initiate a ransomware attack is still the tried and true phishing email. Organizations should make sure to communicate to their staff that they need to be on high alert, especially during the holidays.