Dr. Dimitar Nikolov

Chief Assistant Professor Dr. Dimitar Nikolov is a lecturer and researcher in cybersecurity at the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, combining his academic work with many years of hands-on experience in an international corporate environment. His career includes a number of cybersecurity roles, among them Red Team Lead at an international company - a position covering offensive security, penetration testing, Cyber Threat Intelligence and Adversary Emulation.

He holds a number of internationally recognised professional qualifications and certifications, including SpecterOps Adversary Tactics: Red Team Operations, SpecterOps Adversary Tactics: Mac Tradecraft, EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), EC-Council Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA) and arcX Cyber Threat Intelligence Practitioner, as well as specialised training in cyber defence.

His research and professional interests focus on cybersecurity, Red Team operations, cyber intelligence, the emulation of real-world adversaries (Adversary Emulation), the analysis of modern cyber threats and the protection of critical infrastructure. He is the author and co-author of research on state-sponsored groups such as Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, on the use of YARA and Sigma rules to detect malicious hacking activity, and on practical cybersecurity training. His publications are associated with the Naval Academy and international scientific forums.

He is the academic coordinator of international penetration testing and ethical hacking courses at the Naval Academy, and in 2025 he was the lead instructor of the course "Cyber Range - Cybersecurity in Practice", organised by the Naval Academy under the auspices of the European Security and Defence College.