National Laboratory of Network Assessment, Assurance and Monitoring
Founded in November 2022, the CNIT NAM LAB (Network Assessment Assurance & Monitoring Laboratory) at Rome Tor Vergata currently boasts over 30 highly qualified researchers (PhDs or STEM graduates), establishing itself as a center of excellence in cybersecurity, network security, and 5G technologies.
Strategically, NAM LAB was created to bridge a gap in the technology readiness level (TRL) range of 4-6: while universities primarily focus on fundamental research up to TRL 3, industry and spin-offs mainly operate with more mature technologies, between TRL 7 and 9. The lab does not aim to compete with these entities but seeks to integrate synergistically, promoting technology transfer through applied research activities. From this perspective, NAM LAB differentiates itself from traditional academic research, which tends to focus on theoretical aspects, by prioritizing – though not exclusively – advanced applied research, real-world testbed experimentation, and the development of methodologies for network and system security validation and testing.
The lab is currently structured into five key areas: telecommunications infrastructure security, operating system and mobile device protection, high-performance network monitoring, cybersecurity in medical contexts, and advanced data protection and encryption systems. From a technical standpoint, NAM LAB boasts highly specialized expertise in 5G & Beyond technologies and protocols, malware countermeasures and advanced evasion techniques on Windows, Linux, and Android, kernel-level monitoring with eBPF, reverse engineering and vulnerability assessment, and hardware acceleration of network functions. In addition to research, NAM LAB provides large-scale monitoring and vulnerability scanning services for internet-exposed systems, manages a dedicated infrastructure for phishing awareness, and offers third parties VAPT (Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing) and Red Teaming services.
The lab is 100% self-funded through contracts and operational projects with industries and institutions, as well as national and European initiatives in the field of cybersecurity, in collaboration with other universities, research centers, and enterprises.