On the surface, the water seems still.
That's exactly what makes Shark Week so compelling year after year. The threat is rarely visible above the surface. It's already moving below it.
Cybercriminals work the same way. Today's attacks are built to blend into normal business activity until the moment something fails, money disappears or systems are taken offline.
And during the summer, when routines change, employees travel and oversight naturally thins out, attackers know businesses are often paying less attention.
Here are three threats circling right now.
1. Fake invoices and vendor impersonation
Hackers don't always need to break into anything. Often, they only need one convincing message.
This tactic is known as business email compromise (BEC). It works by pretending to be a vendor, supplier or executive your team already trusts.
The email looks legitimate, someone approves the payment and by the time the fraud is discovered, the money is already gone.
These scams rise during vacation season for a reason. When the person who normally approves invoices is away, requests often get handed to someone who isn't familiar with normal payment patterns. Temporary replacements are more likely to trust the urgency, and attackers count on that.
The best defense is easy to put in place: create a verification step for every financial request that arrives by email. A quick call to a trusted phone number, not the one included in the message, can stop most of these attacks before they succeed.
2. Phishing attacks aimed at distracted employees
Phishing works because it targets people when they're rushed, distracted or trying to do too much at once.
Cybercriminals plan for those moments. An employee sees a password reset alert and clicks without thinking. Someone receives a text that appears to come from IT. An email shows up just before a meeting asking for urgent wire approval. Because everything feels time-sensitive, no one pauses to confirm it's real.
The strongest protection isn't just technology. It's a security-minded culture.
Employees should feel empowered to slow down when something looks unusual:
· An unexpected login request
· A payment instruction that came out of nowhere
· A link in an email they weren't expecting
Attackers rely on speed. When your team takes a moment to verify, you take that advantage away.
3. Third-party risks that spread quickly
When a vendor with access to your systems is compromised, the risk doesn't stop with them. It can move straight into your environment through every connection they have to your business.
This is supply chain exposure, and many businesses have far more of it than they realize. Connected software tools, service providers with stored credentials and contractors who still have access long after a project ends can all create openings that 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 manages those relationships?
If those answers aren't clear, your business may be more exposed than you think.
By the time you notice it, it's already in motion
Sharks don't warn you before they strike, and neither do the cybercriminals targeting businesses right now.
The companies that get hit are not always the ones ignoring obvious red flags. More often, they're the ones who assume everything is fine because nothing looks wrong.
Summer is when schedules loosen, attention drifts and the water appears calmest. It's also when attackers are often at their most active.
We help businesses identify exposure across vendors, employee behavior and everyday operations before a small issue turns into a costly incident.
If you don't know where your business stands, schedule a 15-Minute Discovery Call.
Click here or give us a call at 609-676-3597 to schedule your free 15-Minute Discovery Call.
