Office closures are quiet for your team, but not for attackers. Fewer people are watching, replies are slower, and payment requests feel more urgent. A few checks before you lock up, and a few more on your first day back, avoid most of the problems we see after a break.
Before you close: seven checks
- Shut down PCs that won’t be used. Fewer devices on means fewer targets.
- Check backups are scheduled to run over the break, and that the last one finished.
- Install pending updates now, not on the first day back.
- Keep out-of-office replies short. Say when you’re back, not who to call or where people are.
- Set an on-call contact for IT emergencies, and make sure your IT provider has it.
- Lock the server room and network cabinet.
- Remind the team: no urgent payment request is real over the holidays without a phone call.
When you reopen: four checks
- Updates: install anything that queued up over the break, on PCs and servers.
- Backups: confirm every backup job ran while the office was closed, and that the latest one finished.
- Passwords: anyone who shared a password “just for the holidays” should change it now.
- Leavers: remove accounts for anyone who left during the holiday period. It’s easy to miss in the year-end rush.
Also check sign-in reports for unusual logins while the office was closed, and switch off out-of-office replies.
Make it a routine
Save this checklist and give it to whoever locks up and opens up. The same steps work for Diwali, Christmas and New Year, or any long weekend. Fifteen minutes on each side of a break saves a lot of trouble later.
How Pentacle IT Solutions can help
Under an AMC, Pentacle IT Solutions looks after updates, backups, Microsoft 365 and support through the year, so checks like these are part of a plan rather than a scramble. We support businesses in Lucknow and across Uttar Pradesh. See AMC and managed IT.
