For family offices, the holiday season brings several changes at once: principals and staff travel, payment activity increases, approvers take time off, and familiar seasonal messages create new opportunities for social engineering. Each change can be managed. The challenge is that they often overlap.
That makes year-end a particularly demanding window for cybersecurity for family offices. The goal is not to add friction to every interaction. It is to set clear, practical safeguards before schedules become complicated.
The outdated lens treats holiday security as a last-minute IT reminder. The modern approach treats it as a readiness plan: people know who is covering, money movement is verified, and the business can recover if a key system is unavailable.
1. Set payment authority and backup coverage before staff go out of office
The problem: A payment request can arrive while the usual approver is traveling or unavailable. If authority and coverage are unclear, an employee may feel pressured to make an exception, or a request may wait while people search for the right decision-maker.
The fix is to document who can request, approve, release, and reconcile payments, along with named alternates for each role. Confirm the dates when key people will be away and give staff a clear escalation contact. Set out which transactions require additional review and who can authorize an exception.
Keep the arrangement simple enough to use under time pressure. A short coverage matrix is more useful than a long policy no one can find.
2. Verify wires through a known, independent channel
The problem: Holiday payments can involve genuine urgency: closing a transaction, paying a vendor, or moving funds before a deadline. A fraudulent request may exploit that urgency with changed bank details, a new beneficiary, or an executive impersonation.
The fix is to verify significant or unusual payment instructions outside the message that delivered them. Use a phone number already held in your records, not one supplied in the email or text. Require a second approval for new beneficiaries, changed instructions, unusual amounts, and rush requests. Record the verification and reconcile the payment afterward.
The FBI advises organizations to use a second communication channel for business email compromise risks. Its business email compromise guidance is a useful reference for establishing this discipline.
The important point is consistency. A familiar writing style, apparent voice, or message from a known account should not replace the agreed payment process.
3. Make it easy to pause when a seasonal message feels urgent
The problem: Holiday-themed messages often borrow from everyday activity: a delivery notice, charitable appeal, travel update, invoice, or request from a familiar contact. Staff and family members may be more likely to respond quickly when a message fits the season.
The fix is to give everyone a short, repeatable rule: pause, use a known route to verify, and report anything unusual. Do not open unexpected attachments or enter credentials after following unsolicited links. Never share a password or authentication code in response to a message or call.
Make reporting straightforward. Employees should know where to forward a suspicious message and who to contact if they clicked, replied, or approved a prompt. This is not a test of whether people can spot every convincing message. It is a process that helps them raise a concern without delay or blame.
CISA’s holiday online shopping guidance also offers practical reminders about unsolicited links and requests for sensitive information.
4. Prepare devices and accounts for travel, not just the office
The problem: Travel changes the conditions in which people work. A lost device, a public network, or an account sign-in from an unfamiliar location can create disruption or expose sensitive information.
The fix is to prepare devices and access before anyone leaves. Confirm that laptops and phones are updated, protected with strong authentication, and covered by a clear lost-device reporting process. Use a personal hotspot or trusted network for sensitive work where practical. Turn off automatic connection to unfamiliar Wi-Fi, keep devices with you, and avoid leaving them unattended in public spaces.
For family members and principals, agree in advance on whom to contact if a device is lost or a sign-in seems unfamiliar. CISA’s cybersecurity while traveling guidance provides additional travel precautions.
5. Keep the response plan and contacts available while people are away
The problem: An incident can be harder to manage when the primary contact is out of office or the instructions are stored in a system that is unavailable. Uncertainty over who should act can consume time and undermine confidence.
The fix is to make the response plan accessible and identify who is responsible for the first decisions. Confirm contacts for internal leadership, technology support, financial institutions, insurance, and other relevant partners. Specify how staff should report a suspicious sign-in, device loss, or questionable payment request. Keep essential instructions somewhere accessible if email is unavailable.
Before the season, walk through one realistic scenario with the people who may need to respond. The FINRA holiday cybersecurity guidance recommends preparation that includes coverage planning and accessible response procedures. The value of a short discussion is practical: it shows whether people know what to do and whom to call.
6. Confirm that critical information can be restored
The problem: A backup report may confirm that a process ran. It does not, by itself, demonstrate that the family office can restore the records and systems it needs to continue operating.
The fix is to confirm what is protected, who owns recovery decisions, and when a restore was last tested. Identify the systems and information essential for payments, communications, records, and client service. Ask whether a recent test confirmed that data was complete and usable, not merely present.
Well-planned data backup and recovery services support continuity, but leadership still needs to understand the business priorities they protect. If the evidence is unclear, schedule a practical review before holiday coverage begins. Ready.gov’s IT disaster recovery guidance emphasizes documenting and periodically testing recovery plans.
7. Include the wider circle that supports the family office
The problem: Family-office operations often depend on a close network of staff, household members, wealth managers, legal counsel, and other service providers. Each may handle different information or requests, but an attacker may exploit the handoffs between them.
The fix is to agree on a few shared expectations. Identify who can provide or approve instructions, how sensitive requests are verified, and how unusual activity is reported. Remind everyone not to share travel details, financial information, or access credentials through unverified channels. Where a law firm supports the family, align on secure communication and escalation processes; the same planning principles are relevant to managed IT services for law firms handling sensitive client matters.
A short, coordinated briefing can reduce confusion without creating a new layer of bureaucracy. The aim is to protect privacy and readiness across the relationships the family office relies on.
Protect readiness without making the season harder
Holiday security works best when it is prepared in advance and fits the way people actually operate. Clear payment authority, independent verification, travel preparation, accessible response contacts, and tested recovery give staff and principals room to focus on the season without relying on guesswork.
At Oram Cybersecurity Advisors, we help family offices and other high-trust organizations connect security decisions to business priorities. Our security services and technology advisory support are designed to help leaders build a dependable technology foundation without slowing down the people who rely on it.
If you would value clarity on your current holiday readiness, book a practical conversation with Oram. We can help you identify sensible next steps for your people, payments, devices, and recovery plans.
