Dublin cybersecurity firm specialising in threat detection, incident response, and ML-assisted protection of European critical infrastructure.
Lightsource Labs is a Dublin-based private cybersecurity company specialising in threat intelligence, security training simulation, and incident response for critical infrastructure. Their work in EU research projects centres on building practical tools and methodologies to detect, contain, and respond to advanced persistent threats targeting essential services such as energy, water, and transport networks. They bring machine learning capabilities to security operations, applying data-driven approaches to threat actor profiling and automated incident handling. Their industrial focus — both projects are Innovation Actions — signals an orientation toward deployable security solutions rather than basic research.
Both THREAT-ARREST and CyberSANE directly address detection, containment, and response to cyber attacks, with CyberSANE explicitly building a warning and response system for European critical infrastructures.
CyberSANE (2019-2022) targets the European Critical Infrastructure specifically, addressing incident handling across sectors dependent on uninterrupted operations.
THREAT-ARREST (2018-2021) is dedicated to training against realistic threat actors using a multi-layer, assurance-driven methodology.
CyberSANE lists machine learning as a core keyword, suggesting Lightsource Labs contributes AI-assisted threat analysis or anomaly detection within that project.
No keywords are recorded for the early project (THREAT-ARREST, 2018), while the later project (CyberSANE, 2019) carries a rich keyword set including advanced persistent threats, critical information infrastructures, incident response, and machine learning. This suggests an initial focus on human-facing security assurance — training personnel to recognise and respond to threat actors — followed by a shift toward automated, data-driven operational response systems for infrastructure operators. The trajectory points from education and preparedness toward real-time detection and machine-assisted defence.
Lightsource Labs is moving toward operationally deployed, ML-assisted security systems for critical infrastructure, making them a relevant partner for consortia targeting NIS2 compliance, sector-specific resilience mandates, or industrial cybersecurity tooling.
Lightsource Labs has participated in both projects strictly as a partner, never taking on a coordinator role — a pattern consistent with a specialist contributor that joins larger consortia to deliver a defined technical component. With 29 unique partners across just two projects, they operate inside large, diverse consortia (averaging roughly 15 partners per project), suggesting they are comfortable working in complex multi-stakeholder environments. There is no evidence of repeated partnership with the same organisations, which points to breadth of network rather than deep bilateral relationships.
Lightsource Labs has built connections with 29 distinct consortium partners across 13 countries through only two projects — an unusually wide network for such a small portfolio. Their reach is European, spanning multiple member states and associated countries typical of security-focused Horizon 2020 consortia.
Lightsource Labs occupies a focused niche at the intersection of cybersecurity training, threat intelligence, and machine learning for critical infrastructure — a combination that is relatively rare among Irish private companies in the H2020 ecosystem. Unlike academic partners that supply research outputs, they appear oriented toward deployable tools, which makes them attractive to consortia needing a practical implementation partner rather than another research institution. Their private company status and Innovation Action track record suggest they can move from prototype toward product faster than university or institute partners.
