Every July and August, as offices empty and inboxes quieten, we’ve found that the seasonal slowdown creates a window where cyber attacks can go undetected.
Cybercriminals don’t take holidays; they exploit them.
In fact, between July and September 2024, businesses faced 201,687 attempts to breach their firewalls. That’s 2,192 attacks per day – or even more shockingly, one every 39 seconds.
The same study uncovered a 10% increase compared to the previous quarter, confirming that the volume and frequency of attempted breaches rise significantly during summer.
Further research from SonicWall revealed that July is consistently the second-highest month for global malware attacks, with a noticeable increase in undetected activity over the summer period.
But what makes this time of year so risky?
3 Reasons Why SMEs Are More Susceptible to Cyberattacks Over Summer
Once July rolls around, these are the three biggest risks we spot in all types of businesses:
- Missing patching windows
When key people are on leave, critical security updates often get pushed back. Attackers know that. They track public vulnerability announcements and exploit the lag, sometimes within hours. Even a few days’ delay in patching can open a serious window of exposure. - Fewer eyes on alerts
With smaller teams covering more ground, it’s easier to miss warning signs. That means longer dwell time, allowing attackers to remain undetected inside a system. The longer they stay, the more damage they can do. Many summer breaches don’t get discovered until weeks later. - Gaps in escalation and ownership
If an alert is triggered during a weekend or while your lead technician is on holiday, who responds? If there’s no clear answer, that’s a gap, and attackers will exploit it. Summer exposes cracks in incident response that are otherwise masked by normal staffing.”July and August are peak periods for cybercrime”, explains Kamran Bahdur, Technical Director at FLR Spectron. “The combination of fewer eyes on alerts, slower patch deployment, and lighter staffing levels creates real opportunities for attackers and allows them to go undetected for weeks, or even months.”
7 Ways to Strengthen Your Summer Cyber Defences
The good news is that you don’t need an overhaul, just a few strategic steps to make sure your protection holds up, even when people are on annual leave.
- Lock in security updates early
Schedule critical patches and system updates well before summer leave starts. Where possible, automate patch deployment or assign cover to ensure nothing gets missed during absences. - Put 24/7 monitoring in place
Round-the-clock threat detection through a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service gives you confidence that someone’s watching, even when your internal team isn’t. MDR can detect, investigate, and escalate threats in real-time. - Assign clear responsibility for incidents
Make sure everyone knows who’s responsible for responding to alerts during evenings, weekends, and leave periods. Document your escalation process and share it across teams. Never rely on assumptions. - Review your coverage calendar
Check when your technical leads are off and identify where coverage is thin. If you see overlap or risk windows, adjust resourcing or bring in temporary support to close those gaps. - Run a summer stress test
Simulate a breach during low coverage, like a Friday evening ransomware alert. Who picks it up? What happens next? Testing scenarios like these reveal weak points and clarify roles before it’s too late. - Monitor for unusual activity
Make sure your tools are set to flag suspicious behaviour. This could include anything from out-of-hours logins, unusual file access, or data being moved unexpectedly. These early signs are often missed without behavioural monitoring. - Brief the wider business
Remind staff that cyber risks increase over the summer. Encourage basic hygiene: don’t reuse passwords, don’t open links you weren’t expecting, and always report anything suspicious. Cybersecurity isn’t just IT’s job, it’s everyone’s responsibility.
How FLR Spectron can help
We support businesses, especially those without in-house security teams, with proactive, 24/7 protection during the summer slowdown.
Our services include:
- 24/7 monitoring and incident response – Round-the-clock detection and response to threats, ensuring your business stays protected even when staff are away.
- Phishing and impersonation defence – Protection against AI-driven scams, including deepfake emails and spoofed messages designed to exploit quieter periods.
- Staff awareness and training – Focused, practical training to help staff identify and avoid seasonal threats, especially when covering for others or working remotely.
- Cover for internal resource gaps – Flexible support to maintain key cyber hygiene tasks such as patching, endpoint protection, and log monitoring during holiday absences.
- Managed endpoint protection – Keeping devices secure with full visibility and control, whether users are in the office or working from home.
- Dark web monitoring – Continuous monitoring for leaked credentials, company data or access being sold on underground forums – helping you act before it becomes a breach.
- Threat intelligence and reporting – Insight into the latest attack trends affecting SMEs, helping you make informed decisions quickly.
- Automated patching – Ensuring critical systems stay up to date with minimal disruption, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities being exploited while teams are away.
- SIEM and log analysis – Centralised security event logging and real-time analysis to detect suspicious activity across your environment, even when no one’s watching.
If your team is taking a break, your defenses shouldn’t. Get in touch to see how we can help you stay secure through the summer slowdown.