At first glance, the water seems perfectly still.
That's exactly what makes Shark Week so gripping every year: the threat isn't obvious on the surface. It's already circling below.
Cybercriminals work the same way. The risks businesses are facing now are built to hide inside everyday activity until the moment something fails, money is redirected, or operations come to a halt.
And during the summer months, when routines change, employees are traveling, and oversight is lighter, attackers know organizations are often paying less attention.
Here are three threats they're relying on right now.
1. Fraudulent invoices and vendor impersonation
Hackers don't always need to break into a system. Often, they only need to send one convincing email.
This tactic is known as business email compromise (BEC). It works by posing as a vendor, supplier, or executive your team already recognizes and trusts.
The message looks legitimate, someone sends payment to the "vendor," and by the time the error is discovered, the funds are gone.
These scams become more successful during vacation season for a clear reason. When the usual approver is away, requests are handed to backup staff who may not know what's normal. Temporary coverage often means less questioning and more urgency—and criminals count on that.
The best defense is easy to put in place: create a verification step for any financial request received by email. A quick call to a trusted number—not the number listed in the message—can stop most of these attacks before money leaves your business.
2. Phishing messages aimed at busy employees
Phishing succeeds because it takes advantage of how people act when they're rushed.
Attackers intentionally build around those moments. A distracted employee gets 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 transfer approval. In the moment, verifying it feels slower than just responding.
The strongest protection isn't only technology—it's awareness.
Employees should feel confident pausing when something doesn't look right:
· An unexpected login request
· A payment instruction that came out of nowhere
· A link in an email they weren't expecting
Attackers depend on speed. When your team slows down, you take 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 access they already have.
This is supply chain exposure, and many businesses have far more of it than they realize. Software connected to your network, service providers storing credentials, and contractors whose access was never removed after a project ended can all create hidden entry points that owners often haven't mapped.
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 connecting to?
3. Who inside your organization is responsible for managing those relationships?
If those answers aren't clear, your business may be more exposed than you think.
By the time you notice it, the threat is already in motion
Sharks don't warn you before they strike—and neither do the cybercriminals targeting your business today.
The companies that get hit aren't always the ones ignoring obvious red flags. More often, it's the businesses that assume everything is fine simply because nothing appears wrong.
Summer is when schedules loosen, attention slips, and the water looks calmest. It's also when attackers move fastest.
We help businesses identify where they're exposed across vendors, employee activity, and everyday operations before a problem turns into a costly incident.
If you don't know where your business stands, schedule a 10-Minute Discovery Call.
Click here or give us a call at 801-610-6000 to schedule your free 10-Minute Discovery Call.
