From the surface, the water appears calm.
That's exactly why Shark Week captures attention year after year. The real threat isn't obvious at first glance—it's already moving below the surface.
Cybercriminals work the same way. The risks facing businesses today are built to look routine until the moment a payment is redirected, a system fails, or sensitive data is exposed.
And during the summer, when teams are short-staffed, employees are traveling, and oversight naturally slips, attackers know businesses are easier to catch off guard.
Here are three threats moving in right now.
1. Fraudulent invoices and vendor impersonation
Hackers don't need to break in when one convincing email can do the job.
This is business email compromise (BEC): an attacker posing as a trusted vendor, supplier, or executive to pressure your team into sending money where it doesn't belong.
The message looks legitimate, someone on your team sends the payment, and by the time the fraud is discovered, the funds are gone.
These scams rise during vacation season for a reason. When the usual approver is unavailable, requests are handed to someone who may not know the normal process well enough to spot a red flag. Substitute approvers are also more likely to accept urgency without question—and attackers count on that.
The best defense is easy to put in place: require verification for every financial request that comes through email. A quick call to a trusted, pre-existing number—not the one listed in the message—can stop most of these attacks before they succeed.
2. Phishing messages aimed at distracted employees
Phishing succeeds because it targets people at the exact moment they're busy, rushed, or mentally elsewhere.
Cybercriminals plan around 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 minutes before a meeting asking for immediate wire approval. People respond because pausing feels inconvenient.
The strongest protection isn't just technology—it's a workplace culture that encourages employees to slow down when something feels wrong:
· An unexpected login request
· A payment instruction that appears out of nowhere
· A link in an email they weren't expecting
Attackers rely on speed to create mistakes. When your team learns to pause and verify, you remove one of their biggest advantages.
3. Third-party risks that spread quickly
If a vendor with access to your systems is compromised, the threat doesn't stop with them. It can move straight into your environment through the connection they already have to your business.
This is supply chain exposure, and many organizations have far more of it than they realize. Connected software platforms, service providers with saved credentials, and contractors whose access was never fully removed all create openings that often go untracked.
Outsourcing a service does not outsource accountability.
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 is carrying avoidable risk.
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 warnings. More often, they're the ones who assume everything is safe because nothing seems wrong.
Summer brings loose schedules, distracted teams, and a false sense of calm. It also gives attackers more opportunities to strike.
We help businesses identify exposure across vendors, employee behavior, and daily operations before a security issue turns into a costly problem.
If you're not sure where your business stands, schedule a 15-Minute Discovery Call.
Click here or give us a call at 506-383-2895 to schedule your free 15-Minute Discovery Call.
