At first glance, the water seems still.
That quiet surface is exactly what makes Shark Week so gripping every year. The real threat is never what you can see right away. It's what's already moving below.
Cybercriminals work the same way. Today's threats are built to blend into everyday business activity until the moment something fails, funds are redirected, or systems shut down.
During the summer, schedules change, employees travel, and supervision often thins out. Criminals know many businesses are paying less attention.
Here are three threats circling right now.
1. Invoice fraud and vendor impersonation
Hackers don't always need to break into anything. Often, all it takes is one convincing email.
This is known as business email compromise, or BEC. The scam works by pretending to be a vendor, supplier, or executive your team already recognizes and trusts.
The message looks legitimate, someone pays the "vendor," and by the time the mistake is discovered, the money is gone.
These attacks rise during vacation season for a reason. When the person who normally approves payments is unavailable, requests are often sent to someone who may not know the usual process. Temporary backups are less likely to question urgency, and attackers count on that.
The best defense is easy to put in place: Create a verification step for every financial request that comes through email. A quick call to a known phone number — not the number listed in the email — can stop most of these scams before damage is done.
2. Phishing emails aimed at distracted employees
Phishing works because it targets people when they're busy, rushed, or distracted.
Cybercriminals plan around those moments. An employee sees a password reset alert and clicks without thinking. Someone gets a text that appears to come from IT. An email arrives just before a meeting requesting urgent wire approval. People rarely pause to verify when they feel pressure to move fast.
The strongest protection isn't just technology — it's awareness.
Employees should feel comfortable slowing down when something seems suspicious:
· An unexpected login request
· A payment instruction that came out of nowhere
· A link in an email they weren't expecting
Attackers use speed against you. Taking a moment to verify takes that advantage away.
3. Third-party risks that spread quickly
When a vendor with access to your systems is compromised, the threat doesn't stay with them. It can move straight into your environment through the connection they have to your business.
This is supply chain exposure, and many companies have far more of it than they realize. Software connected to the network, service providers with stored credentials, and contractors whose access was never removed after a project ended can all create hidden entry points that most business owners never fully map out.
Outsourcing a service does not outsource responsibility.
To understand your supply chain exposure, you need clear answers to three questions:
1. Which vendors can access your data or systems?
2. What are they connected to?
3. Who inside your organization is responsible for managing those relationships?
If those answers aren't clear, your risk is already higher than it should be.
By the time you notice it, the threat is already in motion
Sharks don't announce themselves, and neither do the cybercriminals targeting your business right now.
The companies that get hit aren't always the ones ignoring obvious warning signs. More often, they're the ones assuming everything is fine because nothing looks wrong.
Summer is when routines loosen, attention shifts, and the water looks calmest. It's also when attackers are often most active.
We help businesses identify where they're exposed across vendors, employee behavior, and everyday operations before problems turn into losses.
If you don't know where your business stands, schedule a 15-Minute Discovery Call.
Click here or give us a call at 978-664-1680 to schedule your free 15-Minute Discovery Call.
