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Cyber Criminals Don’t Take a Summer Holiday: How To Stay Safe on Email
By Cian Fitzpatrick | 27th July 2026
Summer is in full-swing. Yet while most of us are getting ready for our time off, cyber criminals are sharpening their tools and tactics to get into our inboxes. That’s why email security needs to be top of mind all 12 months of the year.
We like to think Summer should be about fun and relaxation, instead of fraud alerts. However, the truth is that Summer is a prime season for phishing, business email compromise and account takeover.
There are plenty of new attack techniques, but phishing remains the number one way attackers access an organisation. Microsoft’s email threat landscape report shows the increase in Summer-specific scams rely heavily on phishing for the initial contact.
Once a user clicks a link or opens a bad attachment, malicious actors aim to:
Cyber criminals are playing a numbers game. They only need a tiny fraction of users to respond to their campaign to be profitable. This makes sending the copious amount of emails they send worth it. Summer, with all the excitement of holidays and great weather, comes with a lot of distraction. This distraction is the reason why cyber criminals ramp up their efforts during the warmer months.
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is on the rise too.
The Association for Financial Professionals’ 2026 Payments Fraud and Control Survey reports that 74% of organisations experienced BEC attempts in 2025. This figure is an increase from 63% the year before.
BEC is just as big a threat in the UK, Ireland and across Europe as it is in the US.
The European Central Bank states that a record €4.2 billion in payment fraud took place in the European Economic Area in 2024. This figure is an increase from €3.5 billion in 2023. Approximately €2.2 billion of that sum is estimated to come from BEC scams. And industry analyses indicate that social engineering and BEC-type incidents represent the biggest drivers of cyber-insurance claims in Europe.
With people going on leave, workflows can change during the Summer. This makes BEC so much easier. Approvers are on holiday, but staff are still under pressure to keep things moving. This creates the perfect condition for an email like “Can you process this urgent payment before my flight?” to slip through.
If we look at Summer from the cyber criminal’s perspective we can see why it’s such a lucrative time. People travel more, spend more and rely heavily on digital communications. This combination of factors makes for fertile ground for believable scams.
Generative AI also has no off switch. Malicious actors can automate campaigns to keep running around the clock. AI has given cyber criminals the means to clone voice for phone-based scams, build realistic lookalike websites that give the appearance of hosting valid payment portals or login links.
Five practical steps to keep your email security safe this season
As much as cyber criminals are ready to strike during Summer, it’s not a foregone conclusion that they’ll succeed. There is a lot you can do to keep your organisation safe.
There’s no question email is the mail communication tool for nearly every organisation on earth. This is also what makes it a primary target for fraud.
At Topsec, we are in the business of giving our clients peace of mind.Our Managed Email Security Platform eliminates spam, viruses, malware, phishing and all types of security threats. You can see what this looks like in the real world in our case studies.
So if you’d like to make this Summer your safest one yet, contact us. We will protect your organisation while you and your team take a well-earned break!
