Data Privacy Week: Are Cyber Attacks Increasing or Are We Just Paying More Attention?

Data Privacy Week takes place from Jan 26-30, 2026

What SOC Managers Need to Know

If you haven’t been reminded by at least three vendors, welcome to Data Privacy Week! A time set aside to raise data privacy awareness for businesses, governments, and the public. What began as Data Privacy Day is now officially an entire week, so designated by the KnowledgeFlow Cybersafety Foundation and supported by well-known organizations like the National Cybersecurity Alliance and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (1). As what typically happens during any cybersecurity awareness event, SOCs and threat hunting organizations will be on high alert. But the question is: do they really need to be?

It’s customary to ramp up resources when cybersecurity awareness weeks kick off. SOC leaders and executives love to embrace the idea that attacks always spike during awareness campaigns. But a look at the data tells us there really is no significant increase in attacks during these times, rather it’s an increase in visibility, scrutiny, and reporting,  activities often placed to align with the campaign timing. Vendors and the industry press take advantage of this as well, inflating headlines that otherwise would go unnoticed.

Sometimes we bring it on ourselves by increasing the number of security reviews during these periods, or temporarily ratcheting up policy compliance. SOC dashboards naturally appear busier than normal because of upticks in user questions and escalations (many from those same executives who believe the attacks increase at these times.) The result: more documented incidents, not necessarily more attacks.

Don’t believe me? Here’s some data. Gartner reports that heightened attention during awareness periods drives demand for additional metrics and assurance reporting, and ultimately SOC validation (2). Similarly, PwC reports spikes in executive engagement following public awareness campaigns (3). SANS also confirms that awareness campaigns correlate with short-term spikes in SOC ticket volume (4). A detailed case study showed that employee training on reporting suspicious emails and phishing attempts dramatically increased the number of threats detected and reported to the SOC, rising from approximately 10–20 per month to about 2000 per month (5).

So, what’s a SOC Manager to do?

First, consider this week as an opportunity to improve. Treat the week like a stress test, and measure your accuracy with user reporting and your alert-incident conversions. Use the increased scrutiny to find gaps in your coverage, and to evaluate your analyst’s workloads.

These tactics are important, but look to improve strategically as well. Take full advantage of the increased executive awareness and lean into it. Show your executives the value of a well-run SOC by validating the effectiveness of your operations. Showcase your team’s efficiency and workflow maturity instead of discussing the latest technology upgrade. Take advantage of the time to have meaningful conversations about ROI, and show how investments in making the team more productive pay off in dividends.

You've probably already been asked to see how AI can make the team more productive, so use this time and plan to join others who are building and using AI to solve some of the challenges amplified this week. Hear what leading practitioners are doing, join in a hackathon, and talk with peers in Tysons Corner, VA at the AI SOC Summit (AISOCSummit.com) on March 3, 2026

In short, Data Privacy Week (or any cyber awareness campaign) does not create attackers, but it does create more reports, more questions, more escalations, and more eyes. A well-run SOC will use this time as an opportunity to demonstrate operational maturity—not a reason to panic.

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1. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2025, December 19). Data Privacy Week.

2. Gartner. (2025). How to Build a Strong Foundation for Your Security Operations Metrics.

3. PwC. (2023). Global Digital Trust Insights Survey.

4. SANS Institute. (2021). Security Awareness Report.

5. Hoxhunt. (n.d.). Incident response case study: Chemical manufacturing company improves threat detection through employee reporting. Hoxhunt.