Trendz³ Newsletter: Holiday Scams, Internet Outages, Year-End IT Plans

Trendz³: The Free IT & Tech Newsletter Designed Just for Small Businesses of Northwest Arkansas

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December 2025

Hi Friend!

They're here — the holidays and the end of the year. And, it's a critical time for small businesses and their IT, tech, and cybersecurity. So this month's newsletter focuses on trends, tips, and resources to help your business end 2025 with confidence — even as you start laying a strong IT and technology foundation for 2026.

Our entire team at TekTrendz wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It's been our honor to serve you in 2025.

Sincerely,

Rob Brothers
Founding Partner
TekTrendz

Trend¹ — Lots of holiday shopping means lots of holiday scams (happening on your business devices, over your business network)

The yearly holiday shopping boom has become prime time for scammers, hackers, and other cyber scrooges in search of soft targets, and small businesses need to be especially vigilant about cyber threats in the month of December.

Here are some tips to guide you and your team this holiday shopping season:

• Shop only on trusted websites/apps. Consider, for instance, that several attorneys general are currently suing Temu, one of the world's most popular ecomm platforms, for allegedly installing malware on devices.
• Look for signs of a secure website. When shopping on a website, ensure your connection is secure by looking at the URL bar and checking for a lock icon, an "https" (not http) abbreviation, or other evidence of an active security certificate encrypting the connection and preventing theft of your data.
  
• Avoid clicking on too-good-to-be-true email deals
• Use strong, unique passwords on sites/in apps
• Turn on two-factor authentication on sites and apps where you shop
• New phone/device? Be sure to update 2FA (you'll need your old device to do a reset if 2FA doesn't automatically transfer to the new device)
• Never save your credit card information online. Even trustworthy sites can be hacked. It's safer to enter your CC manually each time, or use Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal. 
• Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi. Use your mobile data or a hotspot instead.
• Keep your devices updated
• Review your bank statements frequently. Your business's, too. Look for small, unfamiliar charges — they’re often the first sign of card theft.

So, be vigilant this holiday season. Scams turn up more often than bad fruitcake.

Trend² — Internet outages and work stoppages are happening more frequently; you can do something to prevent downtime

Leaves weren't the only thing falling down this fall. You probably noticed, the internet was down a whole lot over the past few months. Indeed, there were three different widespread internet outages caused by technical glitches at AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Cloudflare — three companies instrumental in connecting us to the internet.

Of course, when the internet goes down...business usually slams its brakes. There are, however, steps your business can take to keep operations running (or partly running) when internet outages strike...

• Maintain backup communication methods. Maybe it's a backup email system on Gmail, or a text messaging group, or a second chat platform.
• Use redundant internet connections. Not every business can do this, of course, but having a second internet provider can greatly reduce downtime.
• Keep local copies of critical documents (so they don't need web access)
• Determine backup options for key services. For instance, backup mobile numbers in the event VoiP phones go down.
• Establish offline work plans — before the outage occurs. Plan what offline work activities will look like, and then train your employees on the plan. 
• Keep vendor/support contacts handy (not fully reliant on web access)
• Document a business continuity plan. A simple, clear plan ensures everyone knows what to do during an outage

Need help? We'll gladly help you develop your own business continuity plan.

Trend3 — The ball will drop on a new year soon, and that's a bad time to drop the ball on IT

Small businesses are usually good to do a year-end reset in areas like finances and human resources. What's less common among small businesses is a deliberate, even opportunistic approach to IT and technology at the end of a year. Indeed, December is the ideal time to take major steps forward with your business IT.

Be resolved to end 2025 and start 2026 the right way. Consider some possibilities:

• Prioritize software and subscription renewals/non-renewals. Software and subscriptions often expire at the end of the year. So, it's a good time to do inventory on software/subscriptions — renewing some while cutting others.
• Plan/budget for IT, tech, and cybersecurity upgrades. Investments in IT, tech, and cybersecurity have never been more crucial. To fortify your IT in 2026, start by budgeting/planning for upgrades here at the end of 2025.
• Or, consider making hardware, software, and cybersecurity upgrades now — and reduce your business's taxable income for 2025. You can also start the new year with a strong, dependable IT infrastructure. Win-win.
• Clean house of old data and files. How about archiving those old files by moving them to a dedicated, company-wide drive/library (e.g., SharePoint)? Now's also a great time to purge that inbox, CRM, PM tool, etc.
• Set up skills training for your team. Make sure your team starts the new year with a refresher on cybersecurity awareness as well as technology/communication essentials. We can help. 
• Catch up on patches/updates. You'll want your team to hit the ground running in 2026, not be slowed down by outdated programs and/or software updates that could have been completed earlier. 

You can't do it all; no pressure to try. But, progress in even a couple of these areas can put your business and its IT on a firmer foundation heading into 2026. 

Infographic: Jolly, Merry, & Cyber-Savvy

This would be a fun resource — if it weren't such a serious topic. As mentioned above, we witness a not-so-festive spike in cyber crime during the holiday season. This free infographic, Jolly, Merry, & Cyber-Savvy, offers a quick peek at holiday-related cyber threats — and how you can protect yourself and your business.

Our suggestion: Share this resource with your team, so everyone knows to be extra vigilant during the holidays this year. The cyber grinches are everywhere. 

Click to Download the Infographic

Arkansas + Google: Free AI & IT Certifications

Hot off the heels of announcing plans to build a new multi-billion dollar data center in West Memphis, Google, in partnership with the state of Arkansas, is offering AI and career certificates to Arkansas adults — for free. It's a chance for you and your employees to upgrade your skills in crucial, fast-growing technical spaces.

Arkansans 18 and older can visit the Arkansas Department of Commerce website to apply for a scholarship to AI courses, including Google AI Essentials and Google Prompting Essentials, that would normally cost $49 per month to complete. Scholarships are also available for Google's more substantial career certificates, including IT support and cybersecurity, which usually run upwards of $300.

What a great opportunity to elevate your team's knowledge of AI and IT. For free.

Apply for a Scholarship

Articles We're Reading...

Here's four articles we've read recently with important implications for small business — and their technology, productivity, and/or cybersecurity.

• Foxnews.com: New scam sends fake Microsoft 365 login pages (from nearly 1,000 domains)
  
• CPA Practice Advisor: 5 Ways Hackers Use AI to Break Into Small Businesses—And How to Stop Them
• Forbes: The Small Business Technology Gap, And How To Bridge It (or, the pros and cons of being small)
• Fox Business: Rising holiday scams are costing consumers. Here's how to protect your wallet

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Trendz³ is a free, monthly email newsletter from TekTrendz, created exclusively for small businesses of Northwest Arkansas. Once a month, the Trendz³ newsletter will provide you with a quick rundown of the three most pressing trends in technology, cybersecurity, and IT — that you really need to know. We'll also share helpful resources and news along the way.

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