DIRECTORATUL NATIONAL DE SECURITATE CIBERNETICA

Their core work

DNSC is Romania's national cybersecurity authority, responsible for coordinating cyber incident response, threat intelligence, and digital security policy at the national level. Within EU research projects, they contribute operational expertise as a national CERT/CSIRT, bringing real-world experience in threat detection, incident handling, and security training. Their participation focuses on translating research outputs into practical cybersecurity capabilities — from protecting smart city transport systems to securing IoT devices and training SMEs on cyber hygiene.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

DNSC's H2020 involvement spans only 2020–2021 (project starts), so the evolution window is narrow but still informative. Their earlier projects (GEIGER, CitySCAPE) focused on foundational cybersecurity — helping SMEs build basic cyber resilience and protecting city transport infrastructure against known threats. The later projects (IRIS, SECANT) show a clear shift toward autonomous threat analytics, AI-powered incident response, and IoT security with distributed ledger technology, indicating a move from reactive defense to proactive, automated cyber protection.

DNSC is moving from manual, awareness-based cybersecurity toward automated threat detection and response systems — expect future interest in AI/ML security tools and critical infrastructure protection.

How they like to work

DNSC participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a national authority that contributes operational expertise rather than driving research agendas. With 67 unique partners across 19 countries from just 4 projects, they operate in large consortia (averaging ~17 partners per project). This broad network suggests they are valued for their real-world CERT perspective and national-level deployment capabilities rather than deep research output.

Despite only 4 projects, DNSC has built a remarkably wide network of 67 partners across 19 countries, reflecting the large-consortium nature of EU security research. Their reach spans most of Europe, positioning them as a well-connected national authority within the EU cybersecurity ecosystem.

What sets them apart

DNSC brings something most research partners cannot: operational authority as a national cybersecurity agency. They don't just study threats — they handle real incidents at national scale, making them an ideal validation and deployment partner for security research projects. For consortium builders, having a national CERT on board adds credibility, provides access to real threat data, and offers a clear path to policy-level adoption of project results.

Highlights from their portfolio

• IRIS
  Combines AI-driven autonomous threat analytics with a cyber range for training, representing DNSC's most technically advanced project and their clearest step toward automated cybersecurity.
• SECANT
  Largest single EC contribution to DNSC (EUR 176,250), addressing IoT security with distributed ledger technology — an unusual and forward-looking technology combination for a national authority.
• CitySCAPE
  Applies cybersecurity to multimodal urban transport ecosystems, demonstrating DNSC's ability to work on sector-specific critical infrastructure protection beyond generic IT security.