The 12 Threats of Christmas: Your Complete 2025 Holiday Security Survival Guide

As featured on the CISO Insights podcast - because cybercriminals don't take holiday breaks

The 12 Threats of Christmas: Quick Reference List

1. The Delivery "Smishing" Pandemic - Fake package delivery notifications via SMS trick victims into paying fraudulent "tariff fees" or downloading malware through urgent messages impersonating USPS, FedEx, and UPS.
2. The "Spy" Under the Tree: Connected Toys - Smart toys like the Emo Robot and TickTalk 5 smartwatch contain vulnerabilities allowing attackers to hijack speakers, cameras, and microphones while exposing children's personal data through insecure storage.
3. AI-Powered Social Engineering & Voice Cloning - Criminals use just 3-5 seconds of social media audio to create voice clones for "grandparent scams" and corporate attacks, including a $25 million deepfake CFO video conference heist.
4. Retail Ransomware: The 230% Surge - Ransomware groups like Qilin strategically deploy attacks during Black Friday and Christmas when downtime costs retailers millions per minute, creating maximum extortion leverage.
5. "Encryption-less" Extortion - Threat actors like RansomHub and Dark Angels skip file encryption entirely, instead stealing sensitive data and threatening to leak it while avoiding detection and maintaining multiple revenue streams.
6. Social Media "Malvertising" and Fake Storefronts - AI-generated fake retail websites advertised on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok defraud 40% of social media shoppers who purchase products that never arrive.
7. The "Grinch" of Charity Fraud - Scammers create copycat charities with similar names to legitimate organizations and use deepfake videos of "victims" to solicit untraceable donations via cryptocurrency or gift cards.
8. Gift Card Draining and the "Boss" Scam - Criminals physically tamper with gift cards in stores to record PINs and drain funds, while "CEO impersonation" emails trick employees into purchasing $5,000-$50,000 in gift cards for fake urgent requests.
9. Holiday Crypto Scams and "Rug Pulls" - Seasonal memecoins like "SantaCoin" are pumped by bots and then abandoned in "rug pulls," while deepfake celebrity livestreams promise to "double" cryptocurrency sent to scam addresses.
10. The "Evil Twin" Public Wi-Fi - Attackers set up fake Wi-Fi networks in airports, malls, and hotels with legitimate-sounding names to intercept credentials, inject malware, and conduct man-in-the-middle attacks on unsuspecting travelers.
11. Account Takeover (ATO) Bots - Automated credential stuffing bots test millions of stolen passwords across retail sites, achieving a 520% traffic spike before Thanksgiving to hijack accounts with stored payment methods and loyalty points.
12. Supply Chain Nightmares - Third-party vendor breaches like the 700Credit compromise bypass corporate security entirely by targeting weaker suppliers with legitimate access to sensitive customer and employee data.

The holiday season used to be simple: watch out for pickpockets at the mall and don't leave packages on your porch. Fast forward to 2025, and the threat landscape looks more like a Black Mirror episode than a Hallmark movie. With Cyber Week generating over $44 billion in online spending and AI-powered scams reaching unprecedented sophistication, December has become what cybercriminals call "peak hunting season."

This year's holiday security landscape isn't just about protecting your credit card while shopping online. We're talking about voice-cloned grandchildren, ransomware groups timing attacks to maximize retail chaos, and IoT teddy bears that double as corporate espionage tools when employees bring them back to the office in January.

Welcome to the 12 Threats of Christmas—your comprehensive guide to surviving the 2025 holiday season without becoming another statistic.

1. The Delivery "Smishing" Pandemic: When Your Package Text Is Actually Malware

Remember when missing a package meant finding a slip on your door? In 2025, that notification arrives via text message—except half the time, it's not from FedEx.

The Evolution of Package Scams

Delivery smishing has exploded into the most pervasive threat this holiday season. Scammers impersonate USPS, FedEx, UPS, Amazon, and even regional carriers with frightening accuracy. The messages create urgency: "Your package is on hold," "Incorrect address detected," or the newest variant—"Tariff fee required for international shipment."

That last one is particularly insidious. Exploiting consumer confusion about new international shipping regulations, scammers demand immediate payment of "customs fees" or "tariff charges" ranging from $2.99 to $49.99. The amounts are small enough that victims don't question them but large enough to generate massive profits when multiplied across millions of targets.

What Makes 2025 Different

These aren't your grandfather's phishing texts anymore. Modern smishing campaigns use:

• Geolocation spoofing to send texts only when you're actually expecting a package
• Carrier-specific templates that perfectly mimic legitimate tracking notifications
• Dynamic QR codes that adapt based on your device type to deliver targeted malware
• AI-generated tracking numbers that look authentic when you try to verify them

The Corporate Angle

Here's where CISOs should pay attention: employees shopping on corporate devices or using company email for personal purchases create a direct pathway into your network. When that employee clicks a malicious tracking link on their work laptop, you're not dealing with a personal security incident—you're dealing with a potential breach.

Defense Strategy:

• Never click links in unsolicited delivery texts
• Always verify tracking through official carrier apps or websites
• Enable MFA on all accounts with stored payment methods
• Corporate policy: prohibit personal shopping on work devices during November-January

2. The "Spy" Under the Tree: When Smart Toys Become Dumb Security Decisions

Little Timmy wants the Emo Robot. Your niece has the TickTalk 5 smartwatch on her list. And every single one of these "smart" toys is a potential security nightmare waiting to happen.