Cyber Diplomacy in NATO 3.0 Architecture: Romania as a Regional Nub and Vector of Resilience in the Black Sea
In the context of the transition to NATO 3.0 doctrine and the reconfiguration of the security equation on the Eastern Flank, this paper analyzes Romania's strategic role as a regional hub of cyber diplomacy and technological resilience in the Black Sea basin.The research assesses how the digital dimension and international cooperation can support the defense effort against hybrid threats and asymmetric attacks below the threshold of NATO Article 5. Using a mixed methodology, the paper combines discourse and diplomatic process analysis with stochastic modeling of cyber risks on dual critical infrastructures.In this regard, three fundamental hypotheses regarding strategic cyber deterrence, international legislative harmonization and public-private partnerships in defense technology research and development are analyzed.The results highlight a direct dependence between the speed of diplomatic reaction and limiting the degradation of the capacity of command and control (C2) systems, while also highlighting the vulnerabilities caused by the gaps in domestic innovation and infrastructure.Based on the results obtained, it is proposed to adopt a phased framework until 2035, based on the transition from a reactive to a proactive cyber diplomacy posture, which would strengthen national and regional resilience, in accordance with the commitments assumed by Romania within the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union
Authors
- Sorin Topor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6212-3223)
Institutions
- National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest (RO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal of Cyber Diplomacy
- Published
- 2026-11-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.54852/ijcd.v7y202605
- Primary Topic
- Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00