With offices quiet and cyberthreats rising, now is the ideal moment for businesses to harden defences and reduce unnecessary energy consumption.
The UK’s latest policy briefing has highlighted that data centres already consume around 2.5% of the nation’s electricity, with demand expected to rise sharply by 2030 as cloud and AI infrastructure expand. At the same time, holiday periods are prime targets for cyberattacks, with fewer staff on-site and delayed incident responses.
Businesses need to treat the Christmas shutdown not just as a pause, but as a critical opportunity to implement safer and greener IT practices, or they may return in January to problems far worse than taking down the last of the baubles.
“The approach of the Christmas holiday often leads organisations to shift focus toward the new year, resulting in a lapse of operational discipline and even forgetting the basics for infrastructure maintenance,” said Mark Appleton, Group Vendor Ecosystem Development at ALSO Group. “This neglect, however, increases vulnerability, as idle systems and mismanaged infrastructure trigger preventable waste and risk.”
“A well-planned shutdown secures your premises and guarantees a smooth return to work in the New Year. This requires an enterprise-wide IT strategy that not only mitigates environmental impact but also enhances operational resilience and inspires process improvements.” Security remains at the top of the pre-Christmas to-do list and for good reason. With fewer staff available, delayed incident responses and a general sense of distraction, threat actors see the holidays as an open goal.
“Before closing the office for Christmas, IT leaders should ensure all digital systems are secure. Cybercriminals actively scan the internet for systems running outdated software, especially during these periods when updates are delayed. Businesses must update all software and security patches, and run a final vulnerability check to help identify weaknesses and prevent potentially serious incidents to your core systems during the Christmas break.
“On top of this, implementing additional security measures such as two-factor authentication for sensitive systems means even if credentials are compromised, attackers face additional barriers. Access permissions should also be reviewed, with temporary or unnecessary accounts disabled ahead of the shutdown.
Appleton continued, “the power of remote security monitoring can be central to protecting holiday IT operations. Technology cannot fully replace human judgment but it can significantly amplify it. Deploying remote monitoring technology can offer constant surveillance, detecting anomalies, unusual network activity, or early signs of intrusion, even when your staff are off-site.
“As such, IT teams can act immediately, improving emergency response times and preventing incidents before they escalate into a major disruption. This combination of automation and human expertise helps protect assets and data property around the clock without the presence of security teams physically on-site.”
Sustainability tends to take a back seat during the busiest IT period of the year however, Appleton argues that this is exactly when digital waste peaks and should be tackled. “The holiday period often leads to unpredictable spikes in digital activity, prompting many businesses to over-provision cloud capacity. However, when the peak passes, unused infrastructure continues to silently consume energy and increase emissions.
“This is where green scaling – powering systems up intelligently during peaks and shutting them down responsibly during lulls – becomes essential to preventing waste and keeping cloud environments efficient. Simple steps such as powering down all non-essential equipment like computers, printers and chargers can make a stark difference to your carbon footprint.
“Following this, businesses may want to consider conducting a green audit before or after the holiday period. While it may reveal some ugly truths, it ultimately provides insight to manage wasteful IT resources, such as redundant licences and underused hardware, and support a sustainable IT strategy for the year ahead.
“Marketplaces such as ALSO Cloud can support this shift by giving companies deep visibility into their cloud assets, enabling more energy-efficient vendor choices. With the right insights, businesses can transform holiday IT chaos into clean, operational excellence.”
Appleton concluded, “A green IT Christmas isn’t just good for the planet; it’s good business. With the right preparation, businesses can turn the year-end slowdown into a strategic advantage by strengthening security and reducing emissions
“Those who embrace these practices now will walk into January not with a backlog of problems, but with cleaner systems, lower costs, and a more sustainable digital footprint.”
Further information can be found at https://also.com.
Be First to Comment