Europe Threat Landscape Report’s CEO Brief 2026

Key Cybersecurity Insights for Business Leaders

• France Leads Dark Web Exposure: France accounts for 23.76% of dark web threats, followed by the United Kingdom (11.07%) and Spain (10.74%).
• Retail and Consumer Markets Face Heavy Pressure: Retail Trade (14%) and Electronic Shopping (10%) together account for nearly a quarter of dark web activity.
• Cybercrime Is Strongly Monetization-Driven: Selling (66%) and sharing (29%) dominate underground activity, showing a strong focus on stolen data and credentials.
• The UK Leads Ransomware Targeting: The United Kingdom accounts for 41.17% of ransomware activity, highlighting its attractiveness for extortion-focused operations.
• Ransomware Activity Is Highly Fragmented: Qilin leads at 16.8%, but 71.2% of attacks come from smaller or emerging groups.
• Finance and Banking Are Major Phishing Targets: Together they account for nearly 25% of phishing campaigns across Europe.
• Government and National Security Remain Exposed: Public Administration and National Security-related sectors face pressure from both financially and politically motivated actors.
• Phishing Follows Its Own Geographic Logic: The Netherlands leads phishing activity at 32.24%, while ransomware and dark web threats concentrate elsewhere.
• HTTPS No Longer Signals Safety: 89.1% of phishing pages use HTTPS, making traditional trust indicators increasingly ineffective.

Why This Report Matters for CEOs

Cyber risk across Europe increasingly affects financial performance, regulatory exposure, customer confidence, and operational resilience. The region does not face a single unified threat pattern. Dark web activity, ransomware campaigns, and phishing operations each follow different geographic and sector-specific targeting logic, creating a more complex risk environment for organizations operating across multiple markets.

Executives must approach cybersecurity as a strategic business priority supported by intelligence-driven visibility, resilience planning, and proactive investment. Understanding how threats vary across Europe is essential to protecting growth, maintaining trust, and ensuring business continuity.