Christmas at the Colo... (true story!)

Why the Holiday Season Is Open Season for Cyberattacks

Most people remember where they were on Christmas Eve. For me, one particular Christmas Eve stands out, not because of presents or a perfect dinner, but because of a phone call.

We were sitting around the table, my family laughing, Christmas music playing softly in the background. The kids were excited. I had just taken my first bite of dinner when my phone lit up with a message no one in cybersecurity ever wants to see during the holidays...

“We’re under attack.”

In an instant, the warmth of the room felt a thousand miles away. An “all hands on deck” night had arrived.

I stood up, apologized to my family, and grabbed my keys. Christmas Eve… spent at the colo.

The Drive to the Data Center

There’s something surreal about driving to a cold, humming colocation facility while the rest of the world is wrapped in holiday lights and celebration. The roads were quiet. Too quiet.

Meanwhile, my phone was anything but quiet:

• Streaming conference call with team members troubleshooting

• Spikes in network traffic

• Unusual east-to-west flows

• Failed logins surging

• Alerts firing across the board

• Inaccessible Servers

By the time I reached the colo, the team had already identified the source. Coordinated bot attacks were in overdrive.

As I entered the building, the familiar blast of cold air hit me as the security doors opened. Rows of servers blinked like steel Christmas trees. It would have been festive if the stakes weren’t so high.

I set up at a table in the middle of the server farms... headset on, terminal open, telemetry streaming. The Colo became a war room.

Why Attackers Love the Holidays...

People often ask, “Why do hackers hit during Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s?”

The answer is simple... Because defenders aren’t at full strength.

During the holidays:

• Staff is reduced

• On-call rotations are thin

• Response times increase

• Execs are offline

• IT change freezes leave gaps

• Vendors and partners are slower to respond

In other words... For Attackers, the holidays are their Super Bowl.

The FBI and CISA warn every year that threat actors, from ransomware groups to state-sponsored units, intentionally ramp up operations during major holidays.

They know the pattern. They know the gaps. And they know people are distracted.

Back Inside the Colo... Fortifying the Network

Team Santa dug in together:

• Analyzing traffic

• Blocking malicious subnets

• Updating ACLs

• Tightening firewall rules

• Monitoring east-west movement

• Increasing sensitivity on SOC tooling

• Verifying access logs

• Reviewing VPN and identity anomalies

It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t comfortable. But it was necessary. And.................. it worked.

After hours of real-time defense, the attack subsided. Systems stabilized. The network held.

I walked out sometime after 3 a.m., exhausted and wired on cold coffee, but we were victorious.

Outside, the world was still quiet. Inside, Christmas footsteps were only a few hours away.

The Unseen Side of Cybersecurity...

People often imagine cybersecurity as dashboards, alerts, and “hacker movies.” But they rarely see this side-->

• Missed holidays

• Interrupted vacations and dinners

• Family waiting at home

• The weight of responsibility

• The pressure of defending people who will never know your name

And yet, despite all that… we show up. Every time. Because keeping businesses, networks, and people safe doesn’t pause for holidays.

Cybersecurity doesn’t take vacation. And neither do the attackers.

To every SOC analyst, NOC engineer, sysadmin, network tech, IR specialist, and on-call responder out there this holiday season...

Thank you. You’re the reason companies wake up on December 26th without headlines, outages, or breaches. Your sacrifice matters.

What Companies Should Do Before the Holidays...

Prepare before the holidays, not during.

A few essentials:

• Strengthen identity controls

• Increase monitoring sensitivity

• Test incident response plans

• Patch known vulnerabilities

• Validate backups

• Lock down remote access

• Pre-configure rapid firewall actions

• Ensure vendor & partner contact availability

I made it home later that morning, tired but grateful. My family was still asleep. The Christmas lights were still glowing. The world was still intact. Cybersecurity isn’t just a job, it’s a silent guardian role. Most of the time, no one knows the battles you fight.

But on that Christmas Eve, sitting in a freezing data center, I was reminded of something important:

We don’t defend networks. We defend people. And sometimes, we defend Christmas too.