October cybersecurity campaigns push safer online habits

Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the U.S. and European Cybersecurity Month are urging people and workplaces to take basic steps against phishing, fraud and unsafe AI use. The campaigns arrive as new surveys and official data point to rising losses and growing confidence that online scams are unavoidable.

Why it matters: - Fraud losses are rising worldwide, and the campaigns are aimed at changing everyday behavior before money or data leaves a device. - Both efforts focus on simple actions that can reduce risk for workers, families and small organizations. - The push lands as more people report sharing sensitive information with AI tools and more workers face suspicious messages at work.

What happened: - October opened Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the United States for its 23rd year, led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Cybersecurity Alliance. - European Cybersecurity Month also launched, led by EU Member States and organisations across Europe with support from ENISA and the European Commission. - The European campaign is using the motto “Think Before U Click”. - ENISA has shifted this year’s European focus toward the workplace.

The details: - CISA’s core guidance centers on four steps: avoid and report phishing scams, use strong passwords, use multifactor authentication and a password manager, and update software. - A European Commission Eurobarometer survey cited by ENISA found that 74% of employees had received suspicious emails, texts, voice messages or links at work. - The same survey found 39% had received phishing or fraudulent emails. - Only 45% said their organization sends regular cybersecurity updates. - 85% said they want to improve their cybersecurity skills. - The National Cybersecurity Alliance’s Oh Behave! research with CybSafe found 31% of adults surveyed in 2025 believe losing money online is unavoidable, up from 25% in 2022. - In the latest edition of that research, 43% of workers said they had shared sensitive work information with AI tools without their employer’s knowledge. - The Global Anti-Scam Alliance estimates US$442 billion was lost to fraud worldwide in the year to March 2025. - Africa: INTERPOL found artificial intelligence enabled 55% of reported cybercrimes across 36 countries, with losses of US$484 million in 2025, up from US$192 million in 2024. - Asia: Singapore’s police recorded S$913.1 million in fraud losses in 2025, down 17.9% from 2024. - Australia: the National Anti-Scam Centre reported A$2.18 billion in losses in 2025, up 7.8%. - Europe: the European Banking Authority and European Central Bank reported €4.2 billion in payment fraud across the European Economic Area in 2024. - UK Finance reported £1.28 billion stolen through payment fraud in the United Kingdom in 2025. - Latin America: the Brazilian Forum on Public Security counted 2,261,055 recorded fraud cases in Brazil in 2025. - North America: the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded US$20.9 billion in reported losses in 2025, including US$7.7 billion from people over 60, up 59%. - Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre recorded more than C$704 million in reported losses. - UtilForge made a set of online safety tools free to the public worldwide, starting with phishing and online fraud. - Before You Pay checks a payment request before money is sent. - Subscription Check finds repeating payments in a person’s bank statement. - Cancel and Keep Proof writes a cancellation message and keeps a dated record. - Hide Names From AI replaces names and numbers with labels so staff can use an AI tool on a real case without exposing personal details. - The tools require no account, and nothing typed into them is sent or saved. - Each check works with Wi-Fi switched off, indicating nothing is leaving the device. - An official help page links to guidance from CISA and ENISA and to official reporting bodies in 20 countries and territories. - Official guidance urges anyone affected to contact their bank.

Between the lines: - The campaigns are trying to turn cybersecurity from a technical issue into a routine habit at the exact moment a suspicious message arrives. - The workplace focus reflects a broader risk shift: employees are seeing more scams, and some are feeding sensitive information into AI tools without approval. - UtilForge’s privacy-first, on-device approach is positioned as a practical way to let people check risk without uploading personal data.

What's next: - CISA and ENISA are expected to keep promoting public participation throughout October. - The free UtilForge tools are available now worldwide, with the official help page pointing users to local reporting channels and bank guidance. - The campaigns are likely to keep emphasizing phishing defense, secure passwords, multifactor authentication and careful use of AI.