🔐 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in 2026 Hi @channel 👋 The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently published its Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, based on surveys and insights from global cybersecurity leaders. The report shows how rapidly the cyber landscape is evolving amid geopolitical shifts, technological acceleration and growing capability gaps. Cyberattacks are becoming faster, more complex and less evenly distributed. At the same time, organizations are under pressure to strengthen defenses without slowing down innovation. Key trends highlighted in the report: 1️⃣ AI is supercharging the cyber arms race According to the study, 87% of surveyed respondents stated AI-related vulnerabilities were the fastest-growing cyber risk in 2025. At the same time, when implemented effectively, AI was also identified as a significant driver that can support human operators in detecting, defending against and responding to threats. 2️⃣ Geopolitics is a defining feature of cybersecurity Global politics play a major factor in cybersecurity. 64% of survey respondents report actively factoring geopolitically motivated cyberattacks into their risk mitigation strategies. Even though fewer organizations are changing strategies because of geopolitics (66% in 2026 vs 93% in 2023), it’s still the top influence on cyber risk decisions. Companies are increasingly focusing on threat intelligence and working with governments to stay ahead in a complex global landscape. 3️⃣ Cyber-enabled fraud is threatening CEOs and households alike Cyber-enabled fraud is affecting both organizations and individuals. According to the report, 77% of respondents reported an increase in fraud and phishing overall in 2025 and 73% reported that they or someone in their network were personally affected by cyber-enabled fraud. The three most common attacks include phishing (incl. vishing and smishing), payment fraud and identity theft. While ransomware remains the top concern for CISOs, CEOs are often more worried about the broader business impacts of fraud.
Despite rising risks, the report emphasizes that cybersecurity remains a domain where collaboration is not only possible, but powerful - with information sharing and cross-industry cooperation seen as key to improving collective resilience.
🔗 For the full insights, check out the WEF Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 report. 🎥 You can also rewatch our HuFiCon sessions for more on emerging trends and the future of AI. What's your take on the report? How are you preparing for these cybersecurity trends in 2026? Looking forward to your thoughts and insights! 🚀
👋 Hi Community, Today is the day! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a great start to the new year. What better way to celebrate our return than by announcing the two winners of our festive Christmas giveaway. 🤩 A huge thank you to everyone who participated! Your insights were spot on! Thanks to your help, Santa’s delivery list and his entire workforce are now safer than ever! 🛡️ Without further ado, let’s have a drum roll for our two winners:
Congratulations! 🎁 You will be notified via DM/ Email shortly to coordinate the delivery of your gift boxes. 👀 Keep an eye out for more fun ways to engage and participate in the new year.
Thanks for sharing, Markus P.! 😊 Really exciting you’ll get to connect with Christian R. on this topic - looking forward to seeing how your ideas develop! 🧑🎓
🎉 New Year, New Goals and Perspectives @channel We’re already a week into the new year! I hope you all had a restful break with your loved ones and a great start to 2026. ✨ Now that we’re slowly coming out of holiday mode and back to keyboards, notebooks and new ideas, let’s kick off the new year together:
What are your work-related New Year’s resolutions?
Is there a project you’re especially excited about?
Any milestones you’re looking forward to reaching this year?
New here? Start with these resources If you’ve recently joined the community, these links might be helpful: 👉 Community Starter Pack: Get an overview of how to get the most out of the community 👉 Community FAQ: Answers to the most common questions A few quick reminders & ways to get involved: 📝 End-of-Year Survey (still open), Share your perspectives and wishes for the community. ☕ Community Coffee Chats: My coffee-chat slots are still open, feel free to book time if you’d like to connect and chat all things community 🎁 End-of-Year Giveaway: Last call! The festive giveaway is open until tomorrow. Check it out and leave a comment to participate. Looking forward to starting this year together with you all! Best, Melissa
That's a great point Markus P.! Many probably don’t realize what actually happens with their data and as you said, how “transparent” we all are online.
“Planting the seed early is key!” 🌱
For sparking interest with pupils, what approaches have you considered so far e.g. storytelling? I’m curious how it could be done in a way that really sticks and students can apply it themselves. Since you mentioned “time to time”, were you thinking of small learning bites each session? How do you imagine the overall setup of your initiative? Would love to hear more about your approach and ideas! 😊 Thomas B. Janneke Matthias R. feel free to chime in and share your thoughts/ideas. 💡
Hi Markus P., hope you had a great start to the new year! 🎉 Thanks so much for sharing this - really a great initiative! Security awareness really can’t start early enough, especially with the topics you mentioned. And it’s also great to see how proactive the teachers were. that already shows how much the need is being recognized. Last year, my dear colleague Christian Reinhardt actually kicked off a school project, coming from exactly this gap. He recently shared some great impressions on LinkedIn. This might be interesting for you to have a look at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-christian-reinhardt_gestern-durfte-ich-etwas-erleben-das-mir-activity-7397540558040375298-j7v1 We’ll also be sharing more about this in the community soon, so stay tuned! 😊 Since this is about working with students of a young age, where do you see the biggest potential - and also possible hurdles? I’d also love to hear what others think — maybe Meltem C., Lars S., Kim H., you’ve had some experience with similar initiatives and could share your insights? 🧑🎓
Good point - a creepy sender address and a strong sense of urgency are classic red flags – looks 🐟-y! Thanks for kicking things off, Thomas B.! 🙌 The “security beach towel” idea is a great way to spark engagement, Lars S.! Incentivizing it with a little competition is a nice touch – thanks for sharing! 👏
🎄Recap: Hackproof Hangout #2 – Festive Edition @channel Yesterday we came together for our second Hackproof Hangout, a virtual networking event exclusively for our community! It was amazing to connect once more before the year ends and celebrate the festive season together. 🎅 Let’s shine a spotlight on - and applaud - our fantastic speakers from yesterday’s session. Both sessions were packed with valuable insights and sparked great interaction during the Q&As. A huge thank you to: 🎤 Sabrina H., Head of Information Security at Continental Sabrina shared a structured approach to human risk mitigation, covering how to identify top human risks and prioritize them using a scoring system, define risk-reducing behaviors, and ultimately set clear goals with measurable KPIs. She also provided insights into how this process will unfold throughout the year, focusing on three key stages: Assess and Plan, Educate and Engage, and Measure and Adapt. 🎤 Megan C., Senior UX & Product Researcher at SoSafe Megan hosted an exclusive product feedback session on the new Analytics Dashboard, guiding participants through an interactive role-playing exercise. Attendees explored how the dashboard can deliver actionable insights and were encouraged to share their feedback and ideas. 🎁 Christmas Giveaway To wrap up the year, we want to give back to the community with a festive giveaway! You can win a special Christmas Gift Box by leaving a comment in the post - every comment counts. Don’t miss your chance, participation is open until December 31! 👉 Join here: https://community.hufileaders.com/x/00announcements/180e2mlwiq0i/help-santa-protect-his-address-list-win-a-christma 📝 Shape the Community in 2026 We’d love your input! Please take 5 minutes to fill out our community survey, including optional feedback on yesterday’s Hackproof Hangout if you attended. Your insights will help us shape future events, engagement formats and initiatives based on your needs and ideas.
And lastly, if you could not make it this time or simply want to revisit some bits of the session, please find the slides attached. 📎
Thank you all for joining! Your energy, curiosity and engagement brought the community spirit to life once again. I can’t wait to see what the new year will bring. See you all in 2026✨
Security Schnipsel and Monday Morning Security Briefing sound really interesting, Lars S.! 🤩 So your idea would be to use the insights from employees’ click behavior for awareness communication — i.e., by highlighting these insights on Mondays? Curious to see if and how this evolves over time. 💡 And if you’d like to brainstorm or share ideas with other members, that would be great too! 💯
Hi Lars S., thanks a lot for sharing. 🙌 Really interesting observations - the points about the “early hours” and Mondays are very insightful! A question to both you and Robert K.: Do insights like these influence how you plan or time your awareness activities or simulations? I’d be curious to hear whether you’ve adapted anything in your approach based on these patterns. Looking forward to your thoughts!💡 Kim H. René K. Arne B. feel free to chime in and share your thoughts too 🙂
