IMPETUS at CyberSea Festival 2026: Exploring Behavioural Cyber Intelligence

IMPETUS participated in the CyberSea Festival 2026 in Constanța, Romania—an international gathering of cybersecurity professionals, educators, policymakers and practitioners committed to strengthening cyber resilience across Europe and beyond.

Representing IMPETUS, Liljana Pecova Ilieska delivered a session on Behavioural Cyber Intelligence, examining how AI-powered cyber games, Capture-the-Flag competitions and cybersecurity exercises are evolving beyond traditional skills development. These environments can reveal behavioural patterns, learning trajectories, decision-making processes and emerging capabilities.

As artificial intelligence increasingly transforms cybersecurity, the discussion highlighted the need to consider not only how cyber talent is trained, but also how behavioural data is collected, interpreted and ethically used. This emerging field lies at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI governance, digital trust, data protection and human rights.

Participation in the festival provided an important opportunity to exchange knowledge, develop new professional connections and engage in thought-provoking discussions with experts from across Europe. The conversations reaffirmed that cyber resilience is not solely a technical matter—it also requires ethical safeguards, trusted cooperation, strong institutions and a whole-of-society approach.

IMPETUS is grateful to Dan Cuciurianu and the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC) for enabling this participation. We also congratulate Fraga Tariuc of Women4Cyber Romania and Dan Cîmpean for bringing together such a diverse and inspiring cybersecurity community.

A particular highlight was meeting leading women in cybersecurity, including Chris Kubecka, whose contribution brought additional insight and inspiration to the event.

IMPETUS looks forward to continuing this dialogue and developing further cooperation with colleagues and organisations in Romania, across Europe and beyond. Through its work, IMPETUS will continue to promote human-centred cybersecurity, responsible AI governance and the ethical use of emerging technologies.