Guarding the Holiday Spirit: Staying Cybersecure in a Season of Distraction

Twinkling lights, inboxes overflowing with holiday deals, office chatter about Secret Santa, and last-minute vacation plans—the sweet chaos of the holiday season. But while you’re weighing Die Hard against Home Alone for your upcoming movie night, cybercriminals are plotting their own seasonal blockbusters—starring your data.

With IT teams stretched thin and employees distracted by gift lists, travel plans, and year-end deadlines, the festive season’s downtime becomes a hacker’s prime time.

It’s the season of giving—but unfortunately, cybercriminals see it as the season of taking.

Holiday Heists

It’s not just theory—history proves that cybercriminals love the holiday season. From ransomware to supply chain breaches, here’s how holiday distractions have set the stage for some of the most infamous cyberattacks.

1. Pulse Secure VPN exploitation (December 2019)

While holiday cheer was in full swing, Iranian state-sponsored hackers exploited unpatched vulnerabilities in Pulse Secure VPNs. Industries like IT, telecommunications, and government fell victim as attackers leveraged Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol to burrow deeper into the targeted networks using SSH tunneling techniques.

Their timing was perfectly aligned with reduced staffing during the holiday rush.

2. SolarWinds supply chain attack (December 2020)

As merry makers decked the halls, one of the most sophisticated cyberattacks in history unfolded. The SolarWinds breach exposed thousands of organizations to compromise, underscoring that holiday cheer means something different to cybercriminals.

3. Sophos firewall breach (October 2024)

During the eight days off for Golden Week celebrations, Chinese hackers exploited vulnerabilities in Sophos firewall products, targeting military and government facilities. The pattern? Launching attacks during holidays, when IT teams were spread thin. 

This long game clearly proved the holidays are more than a window of opportunity—they’re a wide-open door.

4. Staples ransomware attack (Cyber Week 2023)

During the year’s busiest shopping week, ransomware attackers hit Staples hard, crippling POS systems and inventory management. Exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities, they caused widespread delays, dissatisfied customers, and chaos during a critical sales period.

5. Log4j Vulnerability (Log4Shell) (December 2021)

Just as the world was winding down for the holiday break, Log4j dropped like a lump of coal. This vulnerability allowed attackers to remotely execute code on vulnerable systems—and it was everywhere. From Minecraft servers to enterprise security tools, Log4j's impact was devastating and pervasive. Organizations spent weeks hunting for every instance of it embedded in their applications and services. 

These incidents prove one thing: when the holiday season comes around, threat actors will be there with bells on.

It’s the Most Vulnerable Time of the Year!

The holiday season is a playground for attackers for several reasons:

Reduced vigilance

With skeleton crews managing IT operations and key personnel out of office, leaving fewer eyes to spot suspicious activities, response times to threats slow down.

Distractions galore

Employees distracted with year-end travel plans, sales, gifts, and more are more likely to fall for phishing scams. A cleverly disguised “delivery confirmation” email or “urgent HR request” can easily slip through their lowered defenses.

Increased online activity

Online shopping sprees, travel bookings, and a spike in digital interactions make the holidays peak season for fraudulent websites, malicious ads, and fake payment gateways. Businesses handling increased transactions are especially at risk of attacks targeting payment systems and customer data.

Heightened supply chain dependence

Reliance on third-party vendors spikes during the holidays, from logistics to payment processors. A breach in any part of the supply chain can cascade into a full-scale cyber incident.

Rising ransomware threats

The timing is no coincidence—ransomware attacks spike during the holidays because organizations are more likely to pay up quickly to avoid disrupting critical operations during a high-stakes period.

Awareness of these risks is the first step toward thwarting attacks before they ruin the season.

Digital Grinch Repellent: Zscaler Internet Access

Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) is your all-weather cybersecurity shield, designed to protect organizations no matter how festive—or chaotic—the season gets, so your business can embrace festive cheer without fear.

Here’s how ZIA keeps you off the naughty list:

1. Outsmart festive phishing scams

Holiday-themed phishing emails are among the most popular choices for attackers to infiltrate organizations. ZIA provides real-time protection by inspecting every link and attachment, ensuring malicious emails never reach your employees' inboxes.

Whether it's a too-good-to-be-true holiday deal or a fake Secret Santa message, ZIA’s advanced threat detection ensures phishing emails are blocked before they cause harm.

2. Closing the door on vulnerabilities

Unpatched systems are the quickest point of entry for hackers—as seen in incidents like the Pulse Secure and Sophos breaches. ZIA mitigates this risk by providing comprehensive visibility into internet traffic, flagging and blocking connections to known exploit sites and vulnerable applications.

ZIA acts as your organization’s vigilant defender, continuously updating its threat intelligence database to protect against the latest vulnerabilities—up to the minute.

3. Ransomware defense that doesn’t clock out

Ransomware attacks, like the Staples Cyber Week breach, are designed to capitalize on operational chaos. ZIA’s multilayered approach to ransomware defense includes DNS security, sandboxing, and threat intelligence integration, stopping ransomware in its tracks before it can lock your systems.

With ZIA, your business-critical systems stay operational even during the busiest times, so you can focus on the holiday rush without fear.

4. Ensuring safe employee browsing

During the holiday season, employees often blur the lines between personal and professional internet use—increasing the risk of malware and malicious ads. ZIA enforces secure internet access policies, filtering out harmful content and ensuring safe browsing for employees, whether they’re shopping for gifts or working on critical tasks.

5. Simplified security for distributed teams

Holiday schedules often mean a mix of remote, hybrid, and in-office workforces, making traditional security perimeters obsolete. ZIA delivers secure, high-performance internet access no matter where employees are, ensuring consistent protection across all locations and devices.

ZIA keeps your workforce flexible and secure—whether they’re at the office or a ski lodge.

Best Practices for Existing ZIA Users

To ensure that Zscaler customers can use our platform's comprehensive security features and fine-tune configurations to shield their organizations effectively, here is a quick checklist of best practices:

1. Enable Fraud Protection policies to bolster phishing defenses

Navigate to Policies → Cybersecurity → Inline Security → Advanced Threat Protection → Fraud Protection and ensure “Known Phishing Sites” and “Suspicious Phishing Sites” are enabled. These policies block access to high-risk and malicious URLs.

We also highly recommend reviewing our advanced threat protection policy.

2. Enable browsing safety beyond blocking known threats

Phishing campaigns often exploit newly registered or unknown domains. Mitigate these risks by adopting advanced measures.

• Use Cloud Browser Isolation: Redirect “Miscellaneous” category URLs to an isolated environment, enabling safe interaction with untrusted domains.
• Restrict user actions: Block clipboard access and text input within isolated sessions to prevent data leakage or the download of malicious payloads.

3. Mitigate ransomware risk

Follow a multilayered approach, taking advantage of:

• AI-driven sandboxing: Use ZIA’s real-time sandboxing to quarantine and inspect suspicious files and content.
• Comprehensive TLS/SSL inspection: Ensure all encrypted traffic is inspected to prevent hidden payloads from bypassing defenses.
• Always-on protection: Enable always-on security for remote users, safeguarding connections outside corporate networks, including travelers and work-from-anywhere employees.

4. Ensure uniform security for distributed teams

Deliver seamless protection for users across locations.

• Apply uniform firewall rules: Give all users the same protection, regardless of location.
• Enforce cloud-gen firewall for Road Warriors: Activate policies tailored for mobile and remote users. ZIA’s location-aware capabilities automatically apply granular controls (e.g., access, DNS, IPS) without requiring complex configurations.

Zscaler Internet Access: Security That Works While You Relax

This festive season, trust ZIA to keep your organization safe and secure while you relax and enjoy. Because cybersecurity, like Santa, should never miss a beat.

From AI-powered threat detection to zero trust network access and robust DLP, ZIA equips your organization with the tools it needs to stay secure, compliant, and operational—no matter what the season brings.

This year, give your organization the gift of peace of mind. A secure, hassle-free season where your biggest worry is what to wear to the office party—not a cyberattack.