January is resolution season.
People review what worked and what did not, clean up loose ends, reset routines, and decide how they want the year ahead to look.
Cybercriminals take the same approach.
They are not focused on self-improvement. They are studying last year’s attacks and refining their methods to make the next round faster, more convincing, and harder to detect.
Small businesses appear on that list every year.
It is not because they are careless, but it is because they are busy.
And busy organizations often rely on habits and assumptions that attackers know how to exploit.
Here is what cybercriminals tend to prioritize at the start of the year, and what businesses can do to disrupt those plans.
Resolution #1: “I Will Send Phishing Emails That Do Not Look Suspicious Anymore”
The era of obviously fake scam emails has passed.
Today’s phishing emails are carefully written to resemble everyday business communication. They sound normal, reflect your company’s tone, reference real vendors, and avoid the warning signs employees were trained to spot years ago.
Errors are no longer part of the strategy. Timing is.
January provides ideal conditions. Inboxes are full, teams are moving quickly, and people are catching up after time away.
A modern phishing email often reads like this:
“Hi [your name], I tried to send the updated invoice, but the file bounced back. Can you confirm this is still the correct email for accounting? Here is the new version. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks, [vendor name].”
There is no urgency and nothing dramatic. The message succeeds because it blends into a normal workday.
Your counter move
Train your team to pause and verify rather than respond automatically. Any request involving money or login details should be confirmed through another channel.
Use email filtering tools that detect fake sender addresses and look-alike domains before those messages reach inboxes.
Most importantly, make verification routine. Checking before replying should be treated as responsible behavior, not a delay.
Resolution #2: “I Will Impersonate Your Vendors or Your Boss”
This tactic works because it feels familiar.
Employees interact with vendors and leadership every day. When a request appears to come from someone trusted, people tend to move faster and question less.
A vendor email may claim payment details have changed.
A message from the CEO might ask finance to send money quickly because they are unavailable.
Attackers often add pressure by referencing real projects, names, or deadlines to make the request feel legitimate.
In some cases, the request does not arrive by email at all.
Voice impersonation scams continue to grow. Attackers copy voices from public videos and voicemail greetings, making short phone calls sound convincing enough to bypass suspicion.
Your counter move
Require confirmation for any bank or payment change using a known phone number.
Never send money based on a single message. Always verify payment requests through a second method.
Protect finance and admin accounts with multi-factor authentication. MFA prevents access even when attackers obtain valid passwords.
Resolution #3: “I Will Target Small Businesses Without a Dedicated Security Team”
For years, cybercriminals focused on large organizations such as banks, hospitals, and Fortune 500 companies.
Over time, stronger defenses and tighter insurance requirements made those targets slower and more expensive to attack.
So criminals adjusted their strategy.
Rather than pursue one high-risk target, they now focus on many smaller organizations that are easier to compromise and less likely to detect issues quickly.
Small businesses have become a primary target. They handle payments, store sensitive data, and often lack a dedicated security team monitoring activity.
Attackers understand these conditions. They know teams are understaffed, responsibilities overlap, and security tasks are often postponed. They also know many businesses assume they are too small to attract attention.
That assumption works in the attacker’s favor.
Your counter move
Implement basic protections consistently. Measures such as MFA, regular updates, tested backups, and email filtering often make attackers move on to easier targets.
Business size does not prevent attacks. It simply reduces visibility when incidents occur.
Work with a security partner who actively monitors your environment. You may not need a full internal team, but you do need ongoing oversight.
Resolution #4: “I Will Take Advantage of New Hires and Tax Season”
January brings new employees, and new employees are still learning how things work.
They want to help, move quickly, and make a good impression. They are also less likely to question requests that appear to come from authority.
From an attacker’s perspective, this creates opportunity.
A message arrives asking for help while someone is traveling or unavailable.
A seasoned employee might pause. A new hire with fresh email access is more likely to act.
Tax season adds another layer of risk. Payroll phishing, W-2 requests, and fake government notices increase sharply during this time.
A common attack follows a predictable pattern. Someone impersonates a company executive or HR contact and asks payroll for employee W-2s. Once those files are sent, sensitive personal information is exposed. Criminals often file fraudulent tax returns before employees realize anything is wrong.
Your counter move
Include security training as part of onboarding before granting email access. New hires should understand common scams and know which requests are never legitimate.
Document and enforce clear policies. Do not send W-2s by email. Verify payment requests by phone.
Support employees who pause to confirm requests. Verification should be expected and encouraged.
Preventable Beats Fixable Every Time
When it comes to cybersecurity, businesses typically face one of two outcomes.
Some respond after an incident. They absorb recovery costs, bring in emergency support, notify customers, rebuild systems, and work to restore trust. The disruption can last for weeks or months.
Others focus on prevention. They put basic security measures in place, train their teams, and monitor systems for early warning signs.
The cost is lower. The impact is minimal. Most days, nothing happens.
That is the goal.
You do not buy a fire extinguisher after a building burns. You buy it to prevent the fire in the first place.
How to Ruin Their Year
A strong IT partner keeps your business off the easy target list by maintaining consistent oversight.
They:
-Monitor systems continuously and address issues early.
-Control access so one stolen password does not unlock everything.
-Train teams on modern scams rather than outdated examples.
-Enforce verification rules for financial requests.
-Maintain and test backups to limit the impact of ransomware.
-Apply updates before vulnerabilities can be exploited.
This approach focuses on prevention rather than cleanup.
Cybercriminals are planning their year right now. They are counting on businesses to remain busy, understaffed, and unprotected.
There is no reason to meet those expectations.
Take Your Business Off Their Target List
Book a New Year Security Reality Check.
We identify where gaps exist, what deserves attention first, and how to reduce your exposure in 2026.
No scare tactics. No unnecessary jargon.
Just clear guidance and practical next steps.
The best New Year’s resolution a business can make is ensuring it does not help someone else succeed.
