Successful completion of the CYBERAGENT project: focus on cybersecurity skills of SME workers and women’s inclusion

The CyberAgent project, which lasted three years and reached almost half a million Europeans, is coming to an end. An initiative funded by the European Union has shown that cyber resilience in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is not only created through technology deployment, but above all by providing the necessary knowledge to the workers themselves. The training ecosystem created during the project allowed to prepare more than 400 internal cyber security change agents and achieve high rates of women's inclusion. 

About the project

Since 2023, the CyberAgent project (funded by ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PIALL-INNO), which brought together 8 partners from different countries, has tackled a pressing challenge of helping SMEs protect themselves from growing digital threats. Project reply: Prepare staff able to recognise risks, share good practices and build a secure digital culture within their organisations.

Practical impact and value created

At the end of the project, the CyberAgent consortium presents the results reflecting the broad scope of the initiative.

• More than 480,000 people reached, more than 700 posts posted on socialmedia, more than 1,200followers and subscribers attracted .
• 6 seminars were organised, attracting 736 participants, and more than 70 events were attended.
• More than 200 stakeholders were involved in the activities of the project.
• 425 participants successfully completed the pilot training and gained practical knowledge, of which 38% were women.
• A community of nearly 100 organisations has been created, bringing together 66 European SMEs, 26 cybersecurity organisations and 7 service providers.
• Eight higher education and eight vocational training programmes have been developed, complemented by teaching materials: 3,765 slides, 831 pages of text, 184 hands-on assignments and 48 videos.

Focus on the inclusion of women in cybersecurity

One of the most important achievements of CyberAgent is the promotion of inclusion in the field of cybersecurity. In the pilot phase, women accounted for 38 % of participants and 60 % of the audience at project events. High programme completion rates were recorded: 99% of women successfully completed the training. This confirms not only the quality of the learning model, but also the importance of ensuring favourable conditions for entering cybersecurity.

Final project conference in Brussels

The results of the project, the tools developed and the follow-up guidelines were formally presented and discussed at the closing CyberAgent conference on Empowering Cybersecurity Change Agents, which took place on 27 May 2026 in Brussels, Belgium. The event brought together 52 participants from 11 European countries, including representatives of SMEs, experts from higher education and vocational education and training institutions, policy makers and students. The discussions focused on reducing the cybersecurity skills gap and promoting inclusion in the sector. To ensure that the developed infrastructure continues to serve Europe’s business and education communities successfully, the event was a practical demonstration of the functioning of the CyberAgent platform and awarded the winners of the cybersecurity competition.

Results contributing to EU policy-making

CyberAgent results are relevant for policy makers working on digital resilience, skills development and SME competitiveness. The initiative proves in practice that cybersecurity capabilities can be strengthened by empowering staff, students, lecturers and SME staff to act as internal agents of change. Although the formal implementation phase of the project is over, the CyberAgent learning platform will continue to be available at https://platform.cyberagents.eu and all methodological resources are available at www.cyberagents.eu. Educational institutions and organisations are invited to use this material in their activities. The Consortium sincerely thanks all the partners, experts and trainees who have helped to turn the idea into a tangible and practical result across Europe. The CyberAgent project has proven in practice: SMEs become more resilient to cyber threats when education responds to real job needs and workers are provided with know-how. 

The coordinator of the project is the Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius University. 

Dr.Renata Danielienė,Institute of Social Sciences and Applied Informatics. 

Funded by the European Union. However, the views or opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for them.