December is one of the busiest months of the year for most organisations, and also one of the riskiest from an IT and cyber security perspective. With staff taking annual leave, reduced coverage across teams, and a rise in seasonal cyber threats, it’s essential to make sure your systems are secure and your operations are prepared before the Christmas break.

Here’s what your IT team should be focusing on throughout December to keep your organisation protected, resilient and ready for the holidays.

1. Prepare for Reduced Staffing and Slower Response Times

When teams wind down for Christmas, incident response naturally slows.
Attackers know this, and December consistently sees an increase in phishing campaigns, social engineering attempts and credential attacks.

Before closing down, ensure:

  • Incident response contacts are up to date
  • Critical alerts reach the right people
  • On-call arrangements are confirmed
  • MFA is enforced across all key systems

Proactive preparation reduces the risk of small issues becoming major outages over the holiday period.

2. Strengthen Protection Against Holiday-Themed Phishing

Fake delivery notifications, charity campaigns, online shopping receipts and “urgent” account updates are all common in December, and scammers take full advantage of this seasonal behaviour.

Now is the time to:

  • Refresh cyber awareness training
  • Share examples of current phishing tactics
  • Remind staff to pause before clicking
  • Encourage reporting of suspicious emails

Human error is at its highest when people are rushing, or trying to clear inboxes before finishing for the year.

3. Ensure All Systems Are Patched Before the Break

Unpatched software is one of the biggest risk factors in December, especially when no one’s around to quickly respond to a vulnerability being exploited.

Before closing for Christmas, check:

  • Servers, laptops and endpoints are fully patched
  • Anti-virus definitions are up to date
  • Firewalls, routers and Wi-Fi access points are running the latest firmware
  • Any “pending” updates are applied

A secure patching baseline is crucial during periods of reduced monitoring.

4. Test Backups and Validate Disaster Recovery Readiness

December is not the month to find out a backup hasn’t been working as expected.

Make sure:

  • Backups are running successfully
  • You can restore files, systems or virtual machines
  • Backup schedules include the holiday period
  • DR processes still reflect your current infrastructure

If your team is unavailable for a few days, reliable backups provide essential peace of mind.

5. Review Access and Permissions Before the Holidays

Staff changes, temporary contractors and admin permissions can accumulate towards the end of the year.

December is the perfect time to:

  • Remove unused accounts
  • Revoke unnecessary admin rights
  • Review who has access to critical systems
  • Ensure MFA is enabled across all accounts

Access clean-up reduces the risk of compromised credentials being misused over the break.

6. Confirm Holiday Opening Hours and Support Visibility

Clear communication prevents confusion and ensures your organisation knows how to reach support if something urgent happens.

Internally and externally, share:

  • Your opening hours
  • How to contact IT during the break
  • What qualifies as an emergency request
  • Any system maintenance windows or freeze periods

Wicresoft will remain open as normal throughout the festive period, closing only on standard bank holidays.

7. Plan Ahead for January IT Priorities

January is often one of the busiest months for IT teams, especially with Microsoft’s 2025 end-of-support deadlines approaching for Windows 10 and Office 2016/2019.

Use December to:

  • Review upgrade paths
  • Assess hardware readiness
  • Book in early 2026 project slots
  • Plan licensing changes and renewals
  • Identify any systems that may require ESU

A little planning now prevents unnecessary pressure once the new year begins.

December brings unique risks,  reduced staffing, increased cyber activity and year-end operational pressure.

Taking time now to secure systems, review access, test backups and prepare for team downtime can dramatically reduce your organisation’s exposure during the festive period.

If you want support securing your environment before the Christmas break or planning ahead for 2026, Wicresoft is here to help.

Speak to your Account Manager or call 01484 434700 to get started.