From 28 to 30 July 2026, the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC) through the CyberSEE and CyberSPEX projects, took part in the CyberSea Festival 2026 organised in Mamaia, Romania by Women4Cyber Romania, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, the National Directorate for Cyber Security (DNSC), the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) and other institutional and private-sector partners.
The event brought together around 500 participants from public institutions, academia, civil society, youth organisations and the private sector from Romania, European Union member states and countries from the Western Balkans, for stronger alignment around the skills needed for the next decade of cybersecurity and promotion of the international co-operation in the fight against cybercrime and collection of electronic evidence.
The agenda spanned four parallel tracks plus dedicated competitions and an expo area aimed at delivering practical results. Participants gained hands-on experience through the three-day capture-the-flag (CTF) competition, escape rooms, drone experiences, alongside sharpened investigative skills from sessions on tracing ransomware payments via blockchain and illegal use of cryptocurrencies.
The event also built frontline threat awareness through live demos of phishing and social engineering tactics, a deepfake-spotting workshop, and an exercise testing attendees' ability to distinguish real content from AI fakes, while new tools such as HackShield were also launched on-site.
On the criminal justice side, sessions traced the path "from code to courtroom," ran a tabletop crisis exercise for compliance, and hosted a closed session on prevention across the justice system.
As institutional partner of the CyberSea Festival 2026, the Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC) showcased its efforts to help countries prevent, fight against cybercrime and foster international co-operation in the exchange of electronic evidence. C-PROC delegates took part in fireside chats on emerging cybercrime challenges, kept a presence in the Institutional Village to engage with participants, and held bilateral meetings with Romanian criminal justice authorities and service providers to strengthen co-operation and explore future collaboration.
Furthermore, together with Bitdefender and the Romanian Police, C-PROC organised the interactive workshop "AI, us, and the fight against online crime", which explored how co-operation between law enforcement and the private sector is evolving to counter cyber fraud and cyberattacks. Through practical examples and expert discussions, participants examined the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence, gaining a better understanding of how collaborative approaches and AI-driven solutions can strengthen the prevention, detection and investigation of cybercrime.
A second workshop, "Cyber resilience in the age of AI: ethical gamification, digital trust, and society responses to cybercrime," organised jointly by the CyberSEE project, IMPETUS North Macedonia and Women4Cyber Montenegro, examined the impact of artificial intelligence on cybersecurity, cybercrime and workforce development. Discussions highlighted the value of gamification and Capture-the-Flag exercises in developing cyber talent while addressing the ethical implications of AI and behavioural data. The session also emphasised that strengthening cyber resilience requires a whole-of-society approach, bringing together law enforcement, civil society, academia and the private sector to promote digital literacy, protect vulnerable groups and uphold human rights and democratic values.
C-PROC also contributed to a specialised workshop for participants from the National Administration of Penitentiaries, organised by the ProPrevenire Association in partnership with the Romanian Police. The session focused on online fraud schemes, offender profiles and crimes coordinated from within penitentiaries. Through case studies and expert discussions, participants exchanged practical approaches for the early detection and prevention of cyber-enabled fraud, enhancing the capacity of Romania's penitentiary system to respond more effectively to emerging cyber threats.
The CyberSea Festival 2026 raised awareness on the evolving cybercrime trends, including the impact of artificial intelligence, and on this occasion C-PROC reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing cyber resilience, international co-operation and effective criminal justice responses to cybercrime and electronic evidence.
