The email shows up on a Tuesday morning.
It looks like it’s from the CEO. The name matches. The tone is right. Even the signature feels familiar.
“Hey — can you help me with something quickly? I’m in back-to-back meetings. Need you to handle a vendor payment. I’ll explain later.”
The new employee pauses.
They’ve been with the company for four days. They’re still figuring out how things work. They don’t know what’s normal yet, and they definitely don’t want to be the person who questions the CEO in their first week.
So they go ahead and help.
And just like that, the damage is done.
Why The First Week Is The Most Dangerous Week
Every spring, businesses across the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor bring in a new wave of employees, many of them recent graduates and summer interns stepping into their first roles. For you, it’s onboarding season. For attackers, it’s an opportunity.
According to Keepnet Lab’s 2025 New Hires Phishing Susceptibility Report, CEO impersonation emails are 45% more likely to succeed with new hires than with experienced employees.
Attackers don’t target your most seasoned people. They go after employees still learning the ropes, because there’s a window at the beginning where everything is unfamiliar and nothing feels certain.
A new employee doesn’t know what a typical request looks like. They don’t know how leadership usually communicates. They haven’t had time to build instincts or confidence, and cybercriminals take advantage of that uncertainty.
But here’s the part most businesses miss. The new employee isn’t the problem. The most dangerous employee isn’t careless. It’s the one trying to be helpful.
If you run a business, you likely already know exactly who on your team would respond first.
The Real Gap Isn’t Training. It’s The System.
Think back to a recent first day at your company.
The laptop wasn’t ready. Access wasn’t fully set up. Email accounts were still being created. Someone borrowed a login to check something quickly. A file got saved locally because the shared drive wasn’t accessible. A personal phone got used to look up a client number because it was faster.
None of it felt risky. It felt resourceful. It felt like getting things done.
But during that first week, before everything is fully in place, a few important things happen quietly. Shared credentials create accounts no one tracks, files end up outside backup systems, personal devices touch business data, and no one explains what to do if something feels off.
The same Keepnet report found new employees are 44% more susceptible to phishing than tenured staff. That gap doesn’t come from carelessness. It comes from chaos. When onboarding is inconsistent, security becomes optional. That’s the environment the phishing email walks into.
The attack didn’t create the vulnerability. The first day did.
What A Prepared First Day Looks Like
Fixing this doesn’t require a long security presentation or overwhelming a new hire with policies. It requires having a few key things ready before they walk in the door.
- Their access is configured, not improvised. The laptop is ready, credentials are created, and permissions are clearly defined. There’s no borrowing logins, no temporary workarounds, and no “we’ll sort it out later this week.”
- They understand what a normal request looks like in your business. This can be a quick conversation. Does leadership ever email about payments? Would anyone request sensitive information over email? What should they do if something feels off? This isn’t formal training. It’s basic orientation.
- They know exactly where to go with questions. The employee who hesitated before responding to that email likely would have asked someone if they knew who to ask. Most first-week mistakes happen quietly because new hires don’t want to look inexperienced.
Give them a person. Give them a process.
Most security mistakes don’t happen when someone ignores the rules. They happen when someone doesn’t know the rules yet.
Close The Gap Before It Becomes A Problem
Maybe your onboarding process already feels solid. Maybe your team is small enough that first days feel personal instead of procedural. But if you’ve ever had a new hire improvise their way through week one, or you’re planning to bring someone on soon, it’s worth addressing before that Tuesday email arrives.
For businesses across the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor, this is one of the most common and preventable risks. It doesn’t require advanced tools to fix. It requires a system you can trust from day one.
Call us at 319-364-3004 or book a quick discovery call.
And if you know another business owner preparing to hire, send this their way. The best time to close this gap is before anyone walks into it.
