At first glance, the water appears perfectly still.
That's exactly what makes Shark Week so gripping every year. The threat never shows itself on the surface. It's already there, moving below the waterline.
Cybercriminals operate the same way. Today's risks are built to look like ordinary business activity until the moment a payment is redirected, data is exposed or critical systems stop working.
And during the summer months, when schedules shift, employees are traveling and oversight naturally thins out, attackers know many businesses are paying less attention.
Here are three threats they're circling right now.
1. Fraudulent invoices and vendor impersonation
Hackers often don't need to break in. In many cases, they only need to send one convincing email.
This is known as business email compromise, or BEC. It works by posing as a vendor, supplier or executive your team already recognizes and trusts.
The message looks routine, someone processes the payment, and by the time the mistake is discovered, the money is gone.
These scams surge during vacation season for a reason. When the person who normally approves payments is unavailable, requests get passed to someone else who may not know what "normal" should look like. Temporary coverage and rushed decisions create the perfect opening.
A simple safeguard can make a big difference: create a verification process for every financial request that arrives by email. A quick callback to a trusted, known number—not the one included in the message—can stop most fraud attempts before they succeed.
2. Phishing attacks aimed at distracted employees
Phishing succeeds because it's built around human behavior, especially when people are busy, rushed or multitasking.
Attackers time these messages carefully. A distracted employee gets a password reset alert and clicks. Someone receives a text that appears to come from IT. An email shows up right before a meeting asking for urgent approval on a wire transfer. In the moment, verifying it feels slower than acting on it.
The strongest defense isn't just technology—it's a security-minded culture.
Your team should feel empowered to pause when something seems off:
· An unexpected login request
· A payment instruction that appears without warning
· A link in an email they weren't expecting
Attackers rely on speed to get results. When your team slows down and checks first, you take that advantage away.
3. Third-party risk that spreads 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 already have to your business.
This is supply chain exposure, and most organizations have far more of it than they realize. Connected software platforms, service providers with stored credentials and contractors whose access was never revoked after a project ended all create paths that are easy to overlook.
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 business may be carrying unnecessary risk.
By the time you notice it, it's 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 that ignore obvious warning signs. More often, they're the ones that assume everything is fine because nothing looks wrong.
Summer is when routines loosen, attention slips and the water looks calmest. It's also when attackers are most active.
We help businesses identify exposure across vendors, employee activity 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 919-741-5468 to schedule your free 15-Minute Discovery Call.
