March is one of the busiest months of the year for businesses and organizations on the Treasure Coast and the Palm Beaches.
Accountants are overloaded. Financial documents move rapidly between offices. Employees rush to meet deadlines while juggling daily operations. Email traffic spikes across Microsoft 365 environments, document sharing accelerates, and verification steps sometimes get skipped in the name of efficiency.
Hackers understand this perfectly.
Cybersecurity researchers consistently observe a significant increase in phishing attacks during tax season. These threats don’t look dramatic or suspicious. Instead, they blend seamlessly into normal business communications, making busy professionals across South Florida prime targets.
The danger isn’t limited to accounting firms. The entire business ecosystem becomes vulnerable.
Clients send sensitive information quickly. Vendors request payment updates. Executives approve transactions while traveling. Employees assume requests are legitimate because everything feels urgent.
Modern phishing attacks are designed to look routine. An email appears to come from your CPA requesting updated tax documents. A vendor asks you to change banking information. A DocuSign notification arrives requesting a signature before a deadline.
Nothing feels unusual.
That’s exactly why they work.
Cybercriminals rely on human behavior, not technical weakness. When people are busy, they skim instead of verify. They react instead of pause. Even well-trained teams can make mistakes under pressure.
For South Florida businesses, cybersecurity during busy seasons isn’t about adding complexity. It’s about reinforcing smart habits supported by the right technology framework.
Organizations with strong cybersecurity posture typically combine employee security awareness training, advanced email filtering, multi-factor authentication, and managed security monitoring through a Security Operations Center (SOC). These layers dramatically reduce risk even when employees are moving quickly.
The goal isn’t perfection.
It’s making your business a harder target than the one next door.
Tax season scams succeed when urgency overrides process. Businesses that pause to verify requests, confirm payment changes through trusted channels, and empower employees to slow down when something feels off dramatically reduce exposure.
Cybersecurity leadership often comes down to culture. When teams know it’s acceptable — even encouraged — to double-check unusual requests, risk drops immediately.
March doesn’t need to include a cybersecurity incident.
A few intentional safeguards can ensure tax season remains busy, not disastrous. Open for a free cybersecurity consultation? Call Capstone IT at 561-349-9991 or email sborlaug@capstoneitservices.com.