From the surface, the water appears calm.
That's exactly what makes Shark Week so gripping every year: the real danger rarely shows itself first. It's already moving beneath the surface.
Cybercriminals work the same way. Today's threats are built to blend into normal business activity until the moment a payment is approved, a system fails, or money disappears.
And during the summer months, when teams are out of office, routines shift, and oversight gets lighter, attackers know businesses are easier to catch off guard.
Here are three attacks they're using right now.
1. Fake invoices and vendor impersonation
In many cases, attackers don't need to break into anything. They only need one convincing email.
That's the heart of business email compromise (BEC): criminals pose as a trusted vendor, supplier, or executive and send a request that looks legitimate to your team.
The message seems routine, someone pays the "vendor," and by the time the fraud is discovered, the funds are already gone.
These attacks surge during vacation season for a simple reason. When the person who normally approves payments is away, requests get passed to someone who may not know the usual process. Temporary coverage makes it easier for urgency to slip through without scrutiny, and attackers count on that.
A simple safeguard goes a long way: create a verification step for every financial request that comes by email. A quick confirmation call to a known phone number, not the one in the email, can shut down most of these attempts before they succeed.
2. Phishing attacks that target distracted employees
Phishing succeeds because it's built around human behavior, especially when people are rushed, distracted, or multitasking.
Cybercriminals time these messages carefully. A distracted employee gets a password reset alert and clicks without thinking. Someone receives a text that appears to come from IT. An email arrives moments before a meeting demanding urgent approval on a wire transfer. Nobody pauses to verify because pausing feels inconvenient.
The strongest defense isn't just technology; it's a security-minded culture.
Employees should feel empowered to slow down when something doesn't look right:
· An unexpected login request
· A payment instruction that came out of nowhere
· A link in an email they weren't expecting
Attackers rely on speed to win. When your team takes a moment to verify, you take that advantage away.
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 most organizations have more of it than they realize. Connected software, service providers with stored credentials, and contractors whose access was never revoked after a project ended can all become open doors that many business owners haven't fully mapped.
Outsourcing a service does not outsource responsibility.
To understand your 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 more risk than you think.
By the time you notice it, it may already be too late
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 red flags. Often, they're the ones who assume everything is fine because nothing looks wrong.
Summer is when schedules loosen, attention drifts, and the water looks calmest. It's also when attackers stay busiest.
We help businesses identify weak spots across vendors, employee behavior, and daily operations before those gaps turn into losses.
If you don't know where your business stands, schedule a 15-Minute Discovery Call.
Click here or give us a call at 816-238-3777 to schedule your free 15-Minute Discovery Call.
