Why the Holiday Season Is a Busy Season in the Cyber World

Cyberattacks don't spike during holidays because attackers get smarter. They spike because defenders get distracted.

The holiday season consistently sees an increase in cyber incidents. This rise is not driven by new attacker techniques, but by predictable shifts in organizational focus, human attention, and operational discipline.

Reduced Staffing and Lower Motivation

During holidays, security and IT teams operate with reduced staffing. On-call coverage is thinner, response times slow down, and vigilance drops due to end-of-year fatigue.

Security Changes Are Deferred

Policy updates, system hardening, and security improvements are often postponed during the holiday season, extending the window of opportunity for exploitation.

Business Exceptions Lower Security Barriers

Organizations often introduce temporary security exceptions to ensure operations are not slowed during peak shopping periods. Attacker activity consistently increases around Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the pre-Christmas rush.

Expansion of the Attack Surface

Organizations rapidly introduce new assets — laptops, temporary staff, POS systems, and third-party platforms — often with limited time for security validation. In 2025 alone, 8.9 million retail gift cards were observed for sale on underground markets.

Psychological Factors Increase User Risk

During Thanksgiving week 2024, Black Friday–themed phishing increased by 692%, while Christmas-themed phishing rose by 327%.

Scale Masks Malicious Activity

Holiday traffic surges create high operational noise. Between January and October 2025, 311 million stolen accounts were observed on underground markets, with 63% linked to retail brands.

Conclusion

The holiday season does not introduce new threats. It removes the friction that normally prevents basic attacks from succeeding.

Holiday readiness should be treated as a control maturity test, not a seasonal inconvenience.