While you’re lighting the barbie or sitting in holiday traffic, someone else is getting to work.
They’ve been planning for this.
They know which businesses are running with fewer staff and which alerts will not be checked. They know that in many small businesses, the IT person is the one who fixes the printer, not someone watching security screens late at night.
They also know that from Friday afternoon to Tuesday morning, things go quiet.
They are looking forward to the Labour Day long weekend too. Just not for the same reasons you are.
According to Semperis’s 2025 Ransomware Holiday Risk Report, 52% of organisations hit by ransomware were attacked on a holiday or weekend. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a strategy.
So the real question is not whether businesses like yours are targeted over long weekends.
The real question is who is watching when it happens.
The Risk Starts Before the Weekend
The risk does not begin when the office closes. It starts when people begin to mentally switch off.
For most teams, that happens around Wednesday.
By Thursday afternoon, small shortcuts sneak in. Someone shares a login because access is needed quickly. A vendor gets temporary details that never get written down. A contractor finishes a job, but their access stays active because the person who handles it is already away.
By Friday, things slip even more. Laptops stay unlocked. Sessions stay open. Normal security habits fade as everyone rushes to wrap up and head out.
None of this feels careless. It feels normal.
But those normal decisions do not get checked again until Tuesday morning. That leaves a long window where no one is really paying attention.
The business is still there. The people are not.
Who Is Actually Watching?
This is where most small businesses are caught off guard.
On one side is a criminal group that has done its homework. They know your systems. They know your software. They have tested your logins. They wait for quiet moments because that is when attacks work best.
This is their full time job.
On the other side is your business.
For many businesses, there is no one actively watching. There might be a trusted IT contact. Someone you call when something breaks.
But they are not watching your systems at midnight on a Saturday. They are not seeing a strange login at 2 am. They are not checking unusual activity while you are at the beach.
They are waiting for your call. And you cannot call if you do not know anything is wrong.
That gap is the real risk. A proactive attacker versus a reactive response is not a fair fight.
What It Looks Like When Things Are Covered
Good security is not just about fixing problems after they happen.
In a stronger setup, systems are monitored all the time. Unusual behaviour is flagged early. A login from a new place. Access at a strange hour. Activity that does not match normal use.
It also means preparing before the weekend starts. Reviewing access. Cleaning up old accounts. Making sure everyone who should not have access no longer does.
Not because something is wrong, but because if something does go wrong, you want to know straight away.
Security is not tested when something breaks. It is tested when no one is watching.
If someone is already monitoring your systems, you are ahead of most businesses.
If your plan is to wait until something breaks and then make a call, it is worth rethinking before the next long weekend.
Call us on 07 3185 0555 to get started.
And if you know a business owner heading into a long weekend with nothing standing between their business and a professional criminal operation, send this to them.
Because attackers do not wait for mistakes. They wait for silence.
