European Cybersecurity Month 2026: Save The Cyberverse
Four planets.
Four threats.
One security crew.
This October, enter the Cyberverse and explore four of today’s most relevant cyber threats through short, interactive quizzes: phishing, credential theft, ransomware, and impersonation. Each mission takes only a few minutes.
Ready to strengthen security awareness all year round?
Request Hornetsecurity’s Security Awareness Service and discover how automated, continuous security awareness training can help build more secure behavior across your organization.
European Cybersecurity Month meets Cyberverse
Every October since 2012, the European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM) puts online security and safer digital behavior in the spotlight. As AI increasingly influences both our daily work and the threat landscape, knowing how to recognize suspicious situations and respond securely is becoming more important than ever.
That is why we created the Cyberverse: A mysterious black hole has disrupted four once-stable planets, transforming them into environments shaped by phishing, credential theft, ransomware and impersonation.
Throughout October, four short quiz missions invite you and your colleagues to explore these threats one planet at a time. Each scenario is based on situations that can occur in everyday working life – from a convincing phishing email to an urgent payment request that may not be what it seems.
The goal is simple: recognize the threat, make a secure decision and take one practical lesson back into your daily work.
EXPLORE THE FOUR PLANETS
Each planet represents a different cybersecurity threat. Learn what makes the threat dangerous, take the corresponding quiz and explore further Hornetsecurity insights.
Obscura
Obscura was once a center for trusted communication. Under the influence of the black hole, its messages, links, attachments, and QR codes have become tools of deception.
Your mission
Examine a realistic email and uncover the warning signs hidden inside it. Pay close attention to the sender, context, link and requested action.
What is the threat?
Phishing uses deceptive messages to persuade recipients to click malicious links, open attachments, disclose credentials or approve fraudulent actions. The most convincing attempts often resemble normal business communication and create a believable reason to act quickly. AI can help attackers produce even more polished, personalized and natural-sounding messages, making spelling mistakes and awkward language far less reliable warning signs.
Why does it matter?
One successful phishing attempt can become the starting point for credential theft, account compromise, malware infections or further attacks inside an organization.
Learn more about Phishing
Want to explore the threat in more detail? Read our blog post “Unmasking Phishing: Understanding the Insidious Threat to Your Organization”
Credentia
Credentia was created to protect digital identities and control access to important systems. The black hole has weakened its defenses, putting passwords, authentication processes and user accounts at risk.
Your mission
Take the “How Strong Is Your Digital Access Shield?” quiz and assess your own habits around passwords, password managers, MFA, login pages and suspicious authentication activity.
What is the threat?
Credentia was created to protect digital identities and control access to important systems. The black hole has weakened its defenses, putting passwords, authentication processes and user accounts at risk.
Why does it matter?
Once an account is compromised, attackers may gain access to sensitive information, cloud services and internal communication – and use the trusted account as a starting point for further attacks.
Learn more about Credential Theft
Want to see how modern authentication attacks work? Read our blogarticle “Kali365 Device-Code Phishing Turns an EFT Payment Lure into Microsoft 365 Token Theft.”
Cipher
Cipher was once a secure environment for storing and processing valuable data. After the corruption, its systems began locking files and preventing the crew from accessing important information.
Your mission
Enter the “Save the Space Station” simulation and decide how you would respond when a suspicious file is followed by unusual device behavior.
What is the threat?
Ransomware is malicious software used to disrupt access to systems or data and extort organizations. Modern ransomware incidents can involve encryption, data theft and disruption across multiple systems. AI and automation can help threat actors accelerate and adapt parts of an attack. Fast reporting therefore remains one of the most important actions an employee can take when something appears suspicious.
Why does it matter?
A ransomware incident can affect far more than one device. It can interrupt operations, compromise sensitive information and create significant recovery challenges for the entire organization.
Learn more about Ransomware
Want to explore the threat in more detail? Read our blog post “What 2025 Teaches Us About Ransomware and the Future of Cyber Resilience.”
Coming up…
This planet is still locked.
Come back on October 26 at 9:30 a.m. to discover the threat and start the mission.
Keep the Mission Going Beyond October
European Cybersecurity Month creates a valuable moment to refresh knowledge, challenge assumptions and encourage conversations about secure behavior.
But lasting security awareness requires more than a one-off campaign.
Hornetsecurity’s Security Awareness Service is designed for continuous, automated awareness training. It combines needs-based e-training, realistic spear-phishing simulations and measurable security behavior to support sustainable awareness throughout the year.
Highly personalized and realistic spear-phishing simulations
The Spear Phishing Engine automatically sends individually tailored phishing simulations based on each employee’s role, department and company context. Emails vary in content, difficulty and timing, creating a realistic training environment in which employees cannot simply warn each other about the same phishing message.
Automated and demand-driven training
The Awareness Engine evaluates security behavior and automatically provides relevant e-training based on the needs of individual users and groups – reducing unnecessary training while focusing additional learning where it is needed.
Measure security behavior with the ESI®
The Employee Security Index (ESI®) provides a standardized way to measure and monitor security behavior across an organization and helps identify where additional awareness measures may be required.
Coming soon: Awareness Coach in Microsoft Teams
The Awareness Coach adds an interactive follow-up to security training.
After completing an assigned e-training, employees are contacted directly in Microsoft Teams and challenged with three short questions related to what they have just learned. Instead of ending the learning journey at “training completed”, the Awareness Coach encourages employees to actively recall and reinforce key lessons.
Build on the momentum of European Cybersecurity Month and make secure behavior part of everyday work.
FAQ
What is European Cybersecurity Month?
European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM) takes place every October and is a Europe-wide initiative to promote cybersecurity awareness. Its aim is to raise awareness of current cyber threats, encourage safer digital behavior, and help people protect themselves more effectively against cyber risks in both their professional and personal lives.
How does the Cyberverse campaign work?
The Cyberverse turns four common cybersecurity threats into four short interactive quiz missions. Throughout October, you can explore Obscura, Credentia, Cipher and Mimikon, test how you would respond to realistic situations and learn practical security behaviors that can be applied in everyday work.
The quizzes can be completed independently and only take a few minutes each.
What happens after European Cybersecurity Month?
Organizations should continue reinforcing secure behavior through regular communication, phishing simulations and ongoing awareness training.
Hornetsecurity’s Security Awareness Service supports this with automated e-training, realistic spear-phishing simulations and continuous awareness benchmarking through the Employee Security Index.