The last day before Christmas is all mince pies and "let's pick this up in January". It is also the start of the quietest fortnight of the year, which suits anybody hoping that no one is watching the inbox. Ten minutes before you lock up covers it.
In short
Scammers like holidays. Nobody is around to check, and everything looks urgent.
Decide who sees the alerts and who can approve a payment before everyone leaves.
Update, restart, and switch off what does not need to run.
1. Write an out-of-office that gives nothing away
"I am in Bali until the 6th, for anything urgent contact Sam in accounts" tells a stranger who is away, for how long, and who to pretend to be writing to. Keep it dull: "The studio is closed until Monday 4 January. We will reply when we are back." If your email lets you set a separate reply for colleagues, put the detail there.
2. Agree the payment rule
No new bank details and no "urgent" payments on an emailed say-so over the break. Whoever is on call rings the person back on a number they already have. More on why in five payment scams and the 30-second check.
3. Give the alerts an owner
Backup failed. Card declined. Domain about to expire. Each of these emails somebody. Check which inbox they land in, and that someone will look at it every couple of days.
4. Check what renews
Domain names, software licences and security certificates do not know it is Christmas. Look at what expires before the middle of January and renew it now. A lapsed domain takes the website and the email down with it.
5. Update and restart
Install the waiting updates on every Mac and PC and restart before leaving. Otherwise every machine comes back in January a fortnight behind, all at once.
6. Switch off what can be, leave on what cannot
Off: screens, printers, chargers, the meeting room kit. On: the server or storage box, the router, and anything that runs the backups or that people working remotely rely on. If in doubt, label it.
7. Take the laptop home properly
If laptops are going home: disk encryption switched on, a screen lock set, and never left in the car. If they are staying: in a locked room, not on the desk by the window.
8. Know who to call
Everybody should know who to ring if something looks wrong on 27 December. Write the number down somewhere that is not the laptop.
Want the ten-minute version?
This list takes ten minutes if things were set up properly in the first place, and a long afternoon if they were not. We can get you to the ten-minute version. Talk to us, or see managed IT services.