Romania is facing an acute shortage of IT and cybersecurity specialists, according to the Annual Report on the Assessment of Cyber Risks for 2025, published by the National Directorate for Cyber Security (DNSC).
According to the analysis, Romania is facing challenges from both traditional cyber threats and new technologies, which significantly reduce organizations’ response times. The document shows that all ten sectors of the economy analyzed by the institution were classified as having a “medium” level of risk, but this classification conceals significant differences between sectors and numerous structural vulnerabilities that can generate incidents with major impact.
The specialists needed to mitigate that risk are in short supply. In fact, according to the DNSC, the lack of qualified personnel and insufficient financial resources are the main obstacles to implementing security measures in eight of the ten sectors evaluated.
According to the report, Romania has only 2.8% ICT specialists within its total employed workforce, well below the European Union average of 5% and below the national target set for 2030. In many organizations, the same employees are required to simultaneously manage IT infrastructure, compliance, operational support, and incident response, significantly reducing prevention and response capacity.
At the same time, the report describes a steady increase in cyber threats. Social engineering, phishing, ransomware, online fraud, and account compromise continued to be the main methods used by attackers. Their success depends on the internal weaknesses of organizations.
The simplest attacks were also the most common. DNSC data show that phishing and cyber fraud accounted for nearly two-thirds of all reports received in 2025. Phishing generated approximately 36% of incidents, while fraud and attempted fraud accounted for nearly 29%.
The report also highlighted the transformations brought about by the rapid development of artificial intelligence. According to the DNSC, 2025 saw the first publicly documented case of a cyber espionage campaign conducted 80-90% by an agentic artificial intelligence system. Approximately 30 organizations worldwide were targeted in an operation in which most tactical activities were carried out autonomously.
The institution warned that AI-based tools have significantly lowered the barriers to entry for attackers and made capabilities that until recently were associated exclusively with state-sponsored groups accessible to actors with limited resources.
At the same time, deepfake technologies are already being used in fraud campaigns targeting Romanian citizens, while AI-generated content has increased the effectiveness of phishing attacks and other forms of social engineering.
The report noted that attackers frequently take advantage of periods when organizations have reduced monitoring and response capabilities, such as holidays or long weekends, and that the time between initial access and data encryption can be as little as a few hours.
Another relevant conclusion of the assessment was the gap between organizations’ perception and their actual level of security. According to the report, 68% of the entities analyzed rated their own security posture as good or very good, yet only 37% believed that the sector they belong to was at the same level.
The DNSC believes this discrepancy may indicate either an overestimation of their own capabilities or recognition of systemic vulnerabilities within the ecosystem to which the organizations belong.
Despite the current shortage of specialists in cybersecurity, Romania may have a promising talent pool in the domain in the coming years, after its national team won one gold medal, one silver medal, and two bronze medals at this year’s International Cybersecurity Olympiad (ICO). According to DNSC, Romania was represented by a team of four students, who achieved the following results: Răzvan Mihai Iacob – gold medal; Vladimir Albu – silver medal; Ștefan Mihai Filimon – bronze medal; Alexandru Gabriel Stan – bronze medal.
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