The increasing reliance of economies, public administrations, military and security services, and our everyday activities on advanced information and communication technologies brings benefits, as well as vulnerabilities. Providing security of ICT infrastructures and protection of essential services against cyberattacks is becoming increasingly important. Several countries already have dedicated cybersecurity research programs. Bulgaria is not among those countries, notwithstanding the grave problems it faces, as emphasized by the recent leakage from the National Revenue Service exposing the personal data of almost all tax-paying citizens. The authors therefore have developed and present a concept allowing to combine top-down programs and financing, which occasionally include cybersecurity-related themes, with bottom-up initiatives and use of variety of instruments to advance the national cybersecurity competences.

This paper is included in the program of DIGILIENCE 2019 and will be published in the post-conference volume.