Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) & Horizon 2020 projects promote cybersecurity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the European Cyber Security Month

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the European Cyber Security Month (ECSM), a flagship campaign running annually throughout the whole month of October. The campaign promotes cybersecurity among EU citizens and organisations, and provides up-to-date online security information through awareness-raising activities and sharing of good practices.

This year’s ECSM focuses on two topics:

• phishing: a social engineering technique with human emotions and feelings being used by the attackers to trick people into revealing personal information.
• ransomware: a type of malware that prevents people from accessing and using their files and systems, after being tricked into downloading an attachment or visiting a malicious website.

The campaign reminds us that cyber threats are real and that cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, with phishing and ransomware heavily relying on people’s behaviour. As an example, during the global pandemic phishing incidents rose by 220% compared to the yearly average. We can all prevent falling victim to ransomware and phishing by being aware of these pitfalls and by educating ourselves to become cyber aware.

How to protect ourselves?

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme funds projects that help EU citizens navigate online in a safe and secure manner and be equipped with the necessary digital skills. The projects funded are in the following domains:

• safer internet – to contribute to the creation of national Safer Internet Centres (SICs) to act as national hubs for raising awareness on internet safety.
• cybersecurity – to support the increase in capabilities and cooperation of key cybersecurity actors.
• digital skills – to promote the improvement of digital skills with dedicated master programmes.

HaDEA’s role and its programmes

The Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) celebrates the 10^th anniversary of ECSM by presenting projects funded under CEF and Horizon 2020, in an effort to highlight the synergies across EU funding programmes.

Join us in celebrating ECSM and become (even more) cyber aware with the resources and materials of these projects.

More articles to come on our website, stay tuned!