The holiday season might be a welcome pause for your clients, but for cybercriminals, it’s peak business season. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, attack volumes regularly spike as criminals exploit thin staffing, relaxed vigilance, and the seasonal rush. As an MSP, you’re the frontline defense, and for clients in the defense industrial base or those handling Federal Contract Information (FCI) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), the stakes are even higher thanks to the stringent demands of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). Even for commercial clients – these tips and requirements can be helpful in keeping everyone safe.

Why This Matters for MSPs

Many breaches occur through attacks on smaller businesses, often supported by MSPs, in the supply chain. MSPs must guide clients in hardening security, especially when adversaries see holiday ‘downtime’ as a prime opportunity for disruption.

Hackers’ Holiday Playbook: Seasonal Threats MSPs Must Tackle

Let’s pull back the curtain on some common (and costly) holiday attack scenarios:

• Phishing Tsunami: Social engineering and phishing attempts rise in the holiday period.
  •  Scenario: An employee receives an urgent “bonus issued” email—a phishing attempt that, if clicked, siphons O365 logins and enables further network compromise.
• Ransomware When You Least Expect It: Attackers know to strike when defenses are low – holidays and weekends.
  • Scenario: A client’s server is encrypted at 2 am on Christmas, and with IT leads unreachable, the attackers demand $100k in Bitcoin.
• Vendor and Impersonation Scams: Fraudsters pose as vendors or absent execs, tricking skeleton crews into releasing funds or information.
  • Scenario: A helpdesk receives a “CEO” request (sent via personal email) for vendor payment authorization—bypassing the usual checks.
• Credentials Compromised in Transit: With staff traveling and using hotel Wi-Fi, login details are stolen—often going undetected until it’s too late.
  
  • Scenario: Credentials stolen on vacation are used to access protected files, enabling long-term, hard-to-detect breaches.

CMMC: The MSP’s Seasonal Shield

As an MSP, CMMC is both an opportunity and a responsibility. Its controls aren’t just for compliance—they’re a proven framework to protect your clients and your own reputation over the holidays and beyond.

Key CMMC Strategies MSPs Should Prioritize

• Access Control: Nail down “least privilege.” Update user permissions before the break—disable accounts for temporary staff and monitor privileged users.
  • Real-World Tip: Proactively revoke access for departing employees or those on extended leave.
• Continuous Monitoring: Deploy advanced monitoring with MFA, behavioral analytics, and 24/7 alerting.
  
  • Tool Example: Integrate SIEM solutions that flag unusual after-hours access from new geolocations.
• Security Awareness Training: Roll out a “holiday refresher” for all users—highlight seasonal phishing, social engineering, and travel risks.
• Incident Response Readiness: Don’t just have a plan—test it. Simulate an after-hours incident or “tabletop” a ransomware outbreak.
  • Best Practice: Ensure a clear, on-call roster so urgent tickets get prompt action, even during PTO.

MSP Holiday Checklist: Your CMMC Action Plan

Before the Holidays:

• Proactively review and restrict access privileges for all client users.
• Send customized security alerts about the “top 3” holiday threats.
• Update contact trees and ensure escalation paths are known and documented.
• Audit and verify backup integrity—test restores to confirm they’re ready for a real-world disaster.
• Check that SIEM and security tools are “tuned” to holiday threats and will escalate suspicious activity.

During the Holidays:

• Monitor for abnormal logins, privilege escalations, or data access.
• Keep at least one security-savvy team member on-call for every high-priority client.
• Remind clients of emergency procedures—who to call, what to do when something looks “off.”

After the Holidays:

• Run security health checks and review system logs for unrecognized activity.
• Debrief clients on lessons learned and set concrete goals for the next holiday.

MSPs: The True Guardians of a Cheerful (and Secure) Holiday

If you support defense contractors, CMMC isn’t optional—it’s table stakes. But even for your commercial clients, these controls are the difference between celebrating the new year and scrambling to recover from a breach.

By using CMMC as your roadmap, you lessen the risk, strengthen your service offering, and show clients that your protections don’t take a vacation—even if they do.

Let’s keep client holidays merry, bright, and cyber-safe! Ready to explore unified endpoint management built on zero-trust architecture and start your free trial of LogMeIn Resolve today.