By Anthony Daniel, Managing Director – Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, WatchGuard Technologies
With the EOFY fast approaching, cybercriminals are poised to exploit normal business processes at their busiest and most pressured point. Gone are the days when threats were primarily fake ATO emails or fraudulent invoices. Today, attacks seamlessly integrate into standard business workflows: requests to update supplier bank details, shared documents from trusted contacts, or individuals claiming to assist payroll or finance teams are all tactics used to blend in.
While generic advice surrounding EOFY often emphasises strong passwords and caution against unsolicited messages, this guidance falls short. Under the pressure of looming deadlines, it’s natural for employees to overlook warnings and make mistakes.
In May 2026 alone, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) received 1,386 reports of impersonation scams, marking an 11% increase from April. Additionally, the National Anti-Scam Centre highlighted that Australians lost over $2 billion to scams in 2025. WatchGuard’s research revealed that 75% of organisations faced at least one cyber incident in the past year, with 54% lacking the capacity for continuous monitoring and response.
For businesses, the key question is not whether every scam can be stopped before it lands. It is what happens if one gets through. If an employee clicks a malicious link or approves a dubious request, can an attacker escalate their access to financial systems or exploit compromised accounts?
EOFY security should prioritise containment alongside prevention. Multi-factor authentication should be enforced across critical applications, remote access tools should be reviewed and monitored, and controls such as DNS filtering, endpoint detection, cloud visibility and incident response processes should be tested before the busiest period hits.
Cybercriminals exploit the pressures of EOFY, so resilient businesses don’t just assume every scam will be detected. They prepare for the possibility that a single error could escalate into a larger incident.
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