European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM) 2021 : deployment report : March 2022

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has driven more people to work, share and shop in cyberspace, accelerating a migration to online existence that began in 1989 when the world wide web came into being. ENISA has been raising public awareness of cybersecurity risks through an annual EU-wide awareness-raising campaign since the idea was explored in a feasibility study in 2011 and launched as a pilot project in 2012. Aimed at citizens, organisations and businesses, the European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM) is a month-long campaign held every October across the EU and beyond. ECSM promotes cybersecurity awareness and education, and provides guidance on good practices for individuals and organisations in order to increase resilience and create a more cyber secure culture across the EU. Importantly, the EU Cybersecurity Act (CSA) came into force on 27 June 2019 with an emphasis on making cybersecurity a priority in awareness campaigns. In accordance with Articles 4 and 10 of the CSA, ENISA must promote a high level of cybersecurity awareness, including cyber hygiene and cyber literacy among citizens, organisations and businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly changed the scope of the ECSM back in 2020. Up to that point, the ECSM had mainly been an interactive month with physical events spread across participating countries. The pandemic posed a great challenge to staging the workshops, conferences, training sessions and other events that made up this platform for sharing ideas and campaign materials. However, ENISA was up for the challenge and succeeded in transferring to a digital platform, accelerating its digital transformation. The 2021 European Cybersecurity Month Campaign was built on the solid foundations of that previous experience and success. The aim this year was to go beyond informing and to encourage action and behaviour change. Building on the analysis of what worked well in the 2020 campaign, more video was used to generate greater engagement. A series of real-life stories were accompanied with actionable recommendations. Infographics were created and distributed through social media with a view to helping the viewer take action if needed. Gamified content such as social media puzzles were included to engage people in innovative ways. This strategy ensured that ENISA built on the success of last year with the high impact 'Think Before U Click' campaign. The ECSM 2021 campaign was a resounding success this year with significant growth in social media mentions overall, and social media reach at over 20 million (over twice the 8.8 million figure of 2020). Twitter, a powerful tool for reaching the campaign's target audiences, showed a 15% growth in followers. In fact the @CyberSecMonth account now has well over 28,000 followers. Over 70% of MS say that their campaign (or their partners') has had an impact in reducing cyber incidents.