The office empties out. Out-of-office replies go on. Nobody's checking alerts on December 26.
Attackers know the calendar too. In Semperis research on ransomware, 52% of organizations hit in the past year were attacked on a weekend or holiday — and 78% of organizations cut their security staffing by at least half during those times.
You don't need a big project to be ready. You need a checklist and a couple of hours before people leave.
The 10-Point Checklist
Test a restore — don't just check the backup ran
Pick a file and a mailbox and actually bring them back. A green checkmark on a backup job isn't proof you can recover.
Confirm you have an offline or immutable copy
If ransomware can reach your backups, it will encrypt them too.
Patch everything before the break
Workstations, servers, firewalls. December Patch Tuesday lands on the 8th — get it installed before people leave.
Know who's watching the alerts
Write down who gets security alerts over the break, and how to reach them. "Someone will see it" isn't a plan.
Pause payment changes
Year-end is peak season for fake invoices and banking-change requests. Freeze vendor and payroll banking changes over the break, or require a callback for every one.
Shut down what doesn't need to run
Turn off workstations nobody will use. Every powered-on machine is one more thing to attack.
Review who has remote access
Remove VPN and remote-access accounts for anyone who's left, and make sure every remaining one uses MFA.
Keep out-of-office replies short
Don't list travel dates, backup contacts' direct lines, or "contact accounting for urgent payments." It's a script for a scammer.
Print the emergency contact sheet
Your IT provider, your cyber insurer's breach hotline, your bank's fraud line. On paper, in case the systems are down.
Remind your team before they go
A two-minute email: holiday phishing is up, don't approve unexpected MFA prompts, and call before acting on anything urgent.
When everyone returns in January, check for new inbox rules, unexpected sign-ins and anything that changed while the office was closed.
Why This Week
The Friday after Thanksgiving is a good time to put this on the calendar. The holiday rush hasn't hit yet, and you have a few weeks to fix whatever the checklist turns up.
Free Holiday Readiness Check
We'll test a restore with you, confirm your backups are protected, check patching and remote access, and make sure someone is covering alerts over the break.
DM us "BACKUP" on LinkedIn or schedule a free consultation · (646) 791-2137