Surfshark launches €100,000 cybersecurity fund for academia

Surfshark has launched the Cybersecurity Advocacy Fund, an initiative providing up to €100,000 in annual funding to university students, researchers, and academic representatives. The fund aims to bridge the gap between evolving digital threats—such as phishing, data leaks, and sophisticated scams—and public understanding.

Targeting ideas from classrooms and laboratories rather than internal corporate products, the fund offers financial support alongside technical guidance and collaboration with Surfshark’s security experts. The first submission cycle is scheduled to open in September 2026, with anti-scam initiatives identified as a priority.

The initiative follows the success of the ‘Bot or Not?’ project by Malmö University students, which investigated how people identify bot-written social media comments. Gabriele Sinkeviciute, Surfshark’s Head of Product, described the fund as an investment in expertise outside the company to address the massive scale of global scams, which are estimated to cost approximately $442 billion annually.