When Holiday Cheer Meets Cybercrime... 18,000 Malicious Domains and the Growing Threat Not Only to Your Business, but to Your Family and Friends.

Every year, the holiday season brings two guarantees--> joy... and an explosion in cybercrime.

This year, according to credible reporting sources, attackers have registered more than 18,000 holiday-themed domains designed to mimic flash sales, Christmas promotions, charity drives, gift-card giveaways, and online stores. These domains look legitimate, feel familiar, and often include seasonal triggers like “HolidayDeals,” “SantaSale,” “BlackFridayNow,” or “Christmas-Specials.”

For businesses, this spike in malicious infrastructure isn’t just background noise, it’s a direct threat to customers, employees, supply chains, and brand reputation. For families, it represents one of the most dangerous digital seasons of the year. Below is a breakdown of why this matters, how it affects us professionally and personally, and what concrete steps we can take to protect our companies, customers, loved ones, and ourselves.

The Holiday Cybercrime Surge --> Why It Happens.

Attackers know three things are true every November/December...

1. People are stressed, distracted, and rushing.

They’re shopping on lunch breaks, from the couch, or while multitasking. Speed lowers caution, and attackers capitalize on it.

2. Retailers blast nonstop marketing.

Consumers expect a constant flood of emails and ads, so malicious ones blend seamlessly into the noise.

3. Businesses are short-staffed.

Holiday PTO, reduced SOC coverage, and increased system loads create the perfect storm for attackers to sneak in.

This combination makes seasonal campaigns one of the most successful phishing and scam periods of the year.

The Business Impact--> Why CISOs & IT Leaders Are Losing Sleep.

For organizations, especially MSPs and telecoms like Spectrotel, malicious holiday domains introduce significant risk:

• Credential theft (O365, Okta, VPN, Salesforce, etc.)

One employee clicking a fake “Amazon shipment issue” email can compromise the entire organization.

• BEC & invoice fraud

Attackers imitate vendors, shipping partners, or internal finance teams.

• Fake stores stealing credit cards from employees using work devices

Bring-your-own-device environments and remote workers blur personal and corporate boundaries.

• Brand impersonation & customer scams

Criminals create look-alike sites pretending to be your company, damaging customer trust.

• Supply-chain compromise

Attackers target holiday-busy logistics, e-commerce, and payment systems.

• SOC overload from surging alerts

False positives, phishing spikes, and increased user reporting stretch already thin security teams. This is why modern SOC operations emphasize holiday-season threat readiness, high vigilance during the busiest time of year.

The Human Side--> Protecting Families and Loved Ones.

We all spend our days protecting networks, data, and infrastructure. But the people most vulnerable to these attacks aren’t in our SOC or IT teams, they’re our parents, children, partners, neighbors, and friends.

Cybercriminals specifically target...

• Older adults unfamiliar with new scams

• Teens doing last-minute online shopping

• Families hunting for discounts

• Anyone buying gift cards or electronics

• People responding to shipping notifications during holiday chaos

Just like we harden our enterprise environments, we should be helping our families harden their personal lives.

Real-World Ways to Protect Your Family This Holiday Season

Here are the most effective measures, simple enough for non-technical loved ones, powerful enough to stop most holiday phishing attempts...

1. “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

A $199 PS5? A $40 Apple Watch? A last-minute “holiday clearance”? Those are almost always scam storefronts.

2. Never click shipping emails, go to the carrier website directly.

UPS, USPS, FedEx, and Amazon are the most impersonated services during holidays.

Train your family --> No clicking. Always manually type the website!

3. Enable banking alerts for every transaction.

Real-time SMS/app alerts let your family catch fraud instantly.

4. Use virtual or one-time card numbers.

Most banks offer them now (Capital One, Citi, AmEx). Great for online purchases from unknown stores.

5. No gift-card payments, ever.

Amazon cards, Apple cards, Visa gift cards… these are the #1 preferred payment method of scammers.

If anyone asks for gift cards as payment, it’s a scam. Always.

6. Lock credit reports for family members.

Easy, free, and a massive protection against identity theft during peak fraud season.

Parents especially benefit from this.

7. Slow down. Take 5 seconds before clicking anything.

Attackers thrive on urgency. Encourage “pause and verify.”

8. Share screenshots, never assume.

Create a family rule... If something feels suspicious, text it to the tech-savvy member of the family.

Make yourself the “family SOC hotline.”

Protecting Businesses and Families Is the Same Mission

Your business SOC protects...

• employees

• infrastructure

• customers

• brand trust

Your personal vigilance protects...

• your parents

• your partner

• your children

• your finances

• your identity

The threat actors are the same. The tactics are the same. The goal is the same... extraction of value.

But here’s the key --> Cybersecurity isn’t just an enterprise responsibility. It’s a family responsibility. And the holiday season is when we need to take that responsibility most seriously.

In cybersecurity, we often talk about protecting networks, systems, and organizations. But the truth is bigger... Our first, most important responsibility is to protect people.

This season, while we secure our infrastructure at work, let’s also secure the people we care about most.

A few conversations now can prevent heartbreak later, and that’s a gift no hacker wants you to give.