The email arrives on a Tuesday morning.
It looks like it is from the CEO.
The name is right.
The tone feels right.
Even the signature looks familiar.
“Hey, can you help me quickly? I am stuck in back to back meetings. I need you to handle a vendor payment. I will explain later.”
The new employee pauses.
They have been with the company for four days.
They are still learning how things work.
They do not know what is normal yet.
And they definitely do not want to be the person who questions the CEO in their first week.
So they help.
And just like that, the damage is done.
Why the first week is the riskiest week
Every year, businesses welcome a new wave of employees. Graduates. Interns. First time hires. For businesses, it is onboarding season. For attackers, it is opportunity.
Research shows that new employees are far more likely to fall for phishing emails than experienced staff. Not because they are careless. Because everything is unfamiliar.
A new employee does not yet know how the CEO usually communicates.
They do not know what a normal request sounds like.
They do not know when to slow down and double check.
They are trying to be helpful. And helpful people are exactly who attackers target.
The problem is not the employee.
The problem is the system they are dropped into.
What really happens on day one
Think back to a typical first day.
The laptop is not quite ready.
Some access is missing.
An email account is still being set up.
Someone shares a login “just for today.”
A file is saved locally because the shared drive does not work yet.
A personal phone gets used because it is faster.
None of this feels risky. It feels practical. It feels like getting things done.
But behind the scenes, small cracks start to form.
Logins are shared and never tracked.
Files live outside your backups.
Personal devices touch business data.
And no one clearly explains what to do if something feels wrong.
When onboarding is messy, security becomes optional. That is the exact moment a phishing email slips through.
The attack did not create the risk.
The first day did.
What a prepared first day actually looks like
Fixing this does not mean overwhelming a new hire with rules. It means having a few basics ready before they walk in.
- Access is ready, not improvised
Their laptop works. Their logins are created. Permissions are clear. No borrowed accounts. No quick workarounds. No “we will fix that later.” - They know what normal looks like
This can be a ten minute conversation. Does the CEO ever ask for payments by email? Who approves money? What should they do if something feels off? This is not training. It is orientation. - They know who to ask
Most first week mistakes happen quietly because people do not want to look inexperienced. Give them a person. Give them a simple process. Make it safe to ask questions.
Most security mistakes do not happen because someone breaks the rules.
They happen because no one has explained the rules yet.
Close the door before the email arrives
Maybe your onboarding is already solid.
Maybe your team is small and first days feel personal.
But if you have ever seen a new hire improvise their way through week one, or if you are about to bring someone on, this is worth thinking about now.
Because that Tuesday email does not look suspicious when everything else already feels uncertain.
Call us on (07) 3185 0555 or book a quick discovery call.
And if you know another business owner who is about to hire, send this their way. The best time to fix this problem is before someone clicks.
