European Cybersecurity Month 2023: Strengthening digital defence
This October we celebrate the annual European Cybersecurity Month
(ECSM) [https://cybersecuritymonth.eu/]. Throughout the entire month,
numerous activities take place across Europe, including conferences,
workshops, trainings, webinars, presentations and more. These events
aim to draw attention to digital security and cyber hygiene.  

The ECSM is an annual campaign coordinated by the EU Agency for
Cybersecurity (ENISA) [https://www.enisa.europa.eu/] for over 10 years
and is supported by The European Commission, Europol, The European
Central Bank and EU Member States, EFTA countries, and more than 300
partners (governments, universities, think tanks, NGOs, professional
associations, businesses) from Europe and beyond to promote
cybersecurity among all European citizens and organisations. It also
provides up-to-date online security information by raising awareness
and sharing good practices.  

Guided by the motto #BeSmarterThanAHacker, this year’s theme is
social engineering, a top cyber threat. This edition focuses on
examining where cybercriminals employ clever manipulation tactics to
breach our security defences, such as phishing emails, impersonation
scams and malware among others. Tips and tricks will be shared, that
can be used to decode the tactics that hackers use, and the ECSM
campaigners aim to empower everyone to recognize and thwart hackers'
efforts.  

Looking at the interplay between cybersecurity and open data involves
carefully balancing accessibility and protection. This ensures that
open data initiatives are shielded from potential vulnerabilities and
cyber threats. Implementing robust cybersecurity measures in the
context of open data fosters trust among users and encourages
responsible sharing of information while mitigating risks associated
with unauthorized access and misuse. 

As we are halfway through the month already, some interesting ECSM
activities have already taken place. For example, the Bucharest
Cybersecurity Conference
[https://www.dnsc.ro/bucharest-cybersecurity-conference-2023/about/]
provided a platform for industry experts, thought leaders,
policymakers, and professionals, to discuss and address the most
pressing concerns facing the current cybersecurity ecosystem. A lot of
trainings are also being held during ECSM, such as the training on how
to start a career in cybersecurity
[https://www.allcourses.ie/course-listing/start-a-career-in-cyber-security-learning-people/].
If you are interested in attending any of the activities, you can find
an overview of the upcoming ECSM events here
[https://cybersecuritymonth.eu/activities?containsDate=&endDate=&perPage=10&reqPage=1&searchText=&sortOrder=descending&startDate=October%2011%2C%202023].  

Interested to learn more about cybersecurity activities and further
tips? You can consult the ECSM website
[https://cybersecuritymonth.eu/] and the ENISA website
[https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/emerging-technologies-make-it-easier-to-phish]for
more information. Also, stay tuned for our upcoming data story on
leveraging open data to tackle the cybersecurity challenge of
disinformation! 

For more news and events, follow us on Twitter
[https://twitter.com/EU_opendata], Facebook
[https://www.facebook.com/data.europa.eu] and LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/publications-office-of-the-european-union/],
or subscribe to our newsletter
[https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter]. 

Publication Date/Time
2023-10-23T08:00:00+00:00
Explore this year's theme and activities