Oversharing and AI at work: Cyber Security Month 2026 guide

Context

In brief

• The FOCS dedicates October 2026 to "oversharing"
• Photos, numbers, and names together outline profiles
• The FOCS will discuss the topic over the next four weeks
• Focus also on AI in working life

Key Facts

• Date → 1 October 2026
• Location → Bern
• Theme → "Oversharing – sharing with awareness"
• Illustrated period → next four weeks
• Collaboration → Netpathie

On 1 October 2026, the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (FOCS) dedicated Cyber Security Month in Bern to the topic "Oversharing – sharing with awareness". The message concerns habits in social media, everyday working life and the use of artificial intelligence: every day we share information and leave digital traces, often more than we realize.

A photo, phone number, or name may appear harmless individually. When combined, however, they can build a surprisingly detailed picture of a person. According to the FOCS, information published on the Internet can become valuable to criminals. Possible uses include personalized phishing, identity theft, fraud, and targeted manipulation.

Over the next four weeks, the FOCS will explain where oversharing begins, what risks it entails and how to handle information more consciously. The October campaign was carried out, as it was last year, in collaboration with Netpathie.

Workshop between generations

The programme includes intergenerational workshops. Young people and older adults address the topic together on the basis of concrete examples. The aim of the workshops is to show how quickly individual pieces of information can form a personal profile and how this profile can be used for criminal purposes. Participants also develop strategies for sharing data more consciously and for recognising suspicious situations at an early stage.

Work enters the countryside

In 2026, the focus will be on artificial intelligence in everyday work. Artificial intelligence offers numerous possibilities, for example for drafting emails, translating texts or analyzing data. At the same time, new risks arise when personal, confidential or company information is recklessly entered into AI tools.

In cooperation with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), the FOCS sheds light on the use of AI in everyday working life and the associated cybersecurity risks. At the heart of the campaign is a question: what information can be entrusted to an AI tool and what is better not to provide?

Operational details

What changes in practice

The practical value of the campaign lies in changing the moment in which information is evaluated: not only after publication, but before bringing together details that, taken separately, seem harmless. The decisive element described by the FOCS is the combination: the personal picture becomes more detailed when the information is linked.

The same logic is transferred to everyday work. Writing an email, translating a text and analyzing data are activities cited by the FOCS as possibilities of artificial intelligence. The delicate step comes when personal, confidential or business information is entered into an AI tool to carry them out. The question is not whether AI is useful: the question indicated by the campaign is what information can be entrusted to the tool and what is better not to provide.

For an employee, the distinction leads to a concrete verification. Before sharing content, it is necessary to recognize what kind of information it contains; then to ask oneself whether it is really necessary to include it in the tool; and finally to stop when the content is personal, confidential or corporate and it is not clear whether it can be entrusted. This is an operational reading of the question posed by the FOCS and FDPIC, not a new technical regulation indicated in the press release.

A theme that crosses generations

The workshops aimed at young people and older adults show that the issue is not confined to just one age group or channel. Social media, work life and AI belong to different situations, but they share the same risk described by the FOCS: leaving more information than is intended.

The collaboration with Netpathie adds a direct comparison. Through concrete examples, participants can see how quickly a personal profile is built and work on more conscious sharing strategies. For those who want to keep information security distinct from the economic tools of working life, the site also offers busta paga svizzera and calcolatore stipendio. Here, however, the point remains the choice of content to share.

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Key points

A procedure before sharing

To turn the UFCS’s message into a daily practice, the check must be carried out before sharing. The point is not to wait until a piece of data seems dangerous: it is necessary to observe how several details can be linked.

1. Identify the content. Ask yourself whether you are sharing a photo, a phone number, a name or a set of information. The source shows that these elements, when combined, can outline a personal profile. 2. Look at the context. Assess the whole, not just the individual piece of data: this is where the shift toward oversharing can be recognized. 3. Classify the information. If its use concerns working life and an AI tool, check whether the content is personal, confidential or corporate. 4. Ask the decisive question. Before using AI to draft an email, translate a text or analyze data, ask yourself which information you can entrust to it and which is better not to provide. 5. Recognize the signs. Apply the strategies developed to promptly identify suspicious situations, both when you post on the Internet and when you use AI.

Following Cybersecurity Month

Over the next four weeks, the UFCS will explain where oversharing begins, the risks and ways to manage information with greater awareness. This schedule makes it possible to observe one’s own digital habits without confusing a single piece of information with the profile that may emerge from their combination.

A second step consists in observing the concrete examples used in intergenerational workshops: the campaign uses them to show young people and older adults how a personal profile is formed and to develop shared strategies. The criterion remains the one indicated by the UFCS together with the IFPDT: first assess which information to entrust to an AI tool.

To extend this attention to working life, use the calcolatore stipendio from Frontaliere Ticino.

Source: admin.ch