Cyber Security Community of the Year.

No defender holds the line alone. Behind the practitioners sits the room where they learn, compare notes and find their next role. This category honours the community, network or event that built that room, and the panel scores what it does for the people inside it.

Quick answer

What does the Cyber Security Community of the Year honour?

The Cyber Security Community of the Year category recognises the community, network or event that brings defenders together and raises the standard of practice across the field. It is judged on what the community does for its members: knowledge that moves between organisations, newcomers who find a way in, practitioners who stay in the field because they belong somewhere, and an event or programme others now measure themselves against. The panel looks for evidence the community changed how people defend, mapped to the published criteria, not for size or budget alone. Introduced in the 2026 restructure of the programme, this is one of five organisation honours alongside Company, Product, Service and Team. The award has a single rule that holds across every category: every nomination is read in full, and recognition is judged on merit and never bought. The current holder is ISC2 Security Congress, recognised in 2026.

Who holds it

The 2026 Community of the Year

ISC2 Security Congress Cyber Security Community · 2026

ISC2 Security Congress was named Cyber Security Community of the Year in 2026. The annual gathering convenes the members of ISC2, the body behind the CISSP certification, for shared learning across hundreds of sessions and a global membership that spans the early-career analyst sitting an entry exam and the practitioner who has held the line for twenty years. The panel recognised a programme that keeps people in the field and moves practice between them.

A decade of winners sits in the Hall of Fame.

What the panel scores

Community is a slippery thing to judge, so the panel scores it on what the members get, not on what the organisers say. Four questions carry most of the weight.

Does it move knowledge? The strongest communities take a lesson learned the hard way inside one organisation and pass it to the rest before they learn it the hard way too. Does it bring people in? A community that only serves the people already in the room is a smaller thing than one that opens a door for the analyst who has no contacts and no obvious route. Does it keep people in the field? Burnout and isolation push good defenders out; the panel reads for the community that gives them a reason to stay. And does it raise the floor? A winning record shows practice improving across the people it touches, not a single headline event.

What a winning record looks like

Strong nominations show a before and an after in the people, not the programme. Members who found their first role through it, a practice that spread from one talk into a dozen organisations, a newcomer who is now the one mentoring others. The community’s fingerprints are on that change, and the evidence is checkable.

Weak nominations count attendance. Headcount at an event, followers on a channel, sessions on a schedule. The panel reads past the numbers and looks for what changed for the defenders who took part.

The communities that came before

The 2026 restructure introduced the Community of the Year name, but the programme has recognised the rooms where defenders gather for far longer. The Not for Profit Team of the Year ran across most editions from 2015 onward, and earlier holders read as an honest history of the same idea. The Cloud Security Alliance took it in 2015. Cyber Security Challenge UK, which has put more newcomers in front of a first cyber role than most, was recognised in 2021. The Cyber Threat Alliance, where rival vendors share intelligence rather than hoard it, held the related Not For Profit Team honour in 2022. ISC2 itself appears in the 2025 record, recognised for its One Million Certified in Cybersecurity programme before the Congress took the Community award outright in 2026.

How it is judged

The criteria the panel scores against

The Cyber Security Community of the Year award recognises a community, association, or initiative that has built meaningful connections, promoted education, and driven inclusivity within cybersecurity. It celebrates collective action, highlighting groups that share knowledge, raise awareness, and create long-term positive impact across the industry.

01Achievement: Evidence of measurable outcomes and recognition, including successful initiatives, growth, or long-term impact.
02Contributions to the Cyber Community: Evidence of meaningful contributions that strengthen the wider industry, such as supporting initiatives, sharing expertise, or fostering collaboration.
03Enforcing Awareness: Evidence of efforts to raise awareness of cybersecurity risks and promote best practices among members and wider communities.
04Enforcing Diversity: Evidence of initiatives or practices that promote diversity and inclusion, creating opportunities for underrepresented groups to participate and thrive.