Surging cyber-attacks targeting critical national infrastructure and public services have led to a plethora of cybersecurity legislation and policies, such as US President Joe Biden’s 2021 Executive Order 14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.
The National Cyber Security Index (NCSI) provides an ongoing analysis of the ability of 160 nations to prevent cyber-threats and manage cyber-incidents. Each country is measured according to a range of available data; including crisis management planning, cybersecurity legislation and educational and professional development. Infosecurity sets out the 10 countries currently rated as most cyber-secure on this index at the time of writing. The maximum NCSI score is 100 (100%).
Interestingly, every country in this list is from Europe and you’ll likely note the absence of both the United Kingdom and the United States, which place at 22 and 20, respectively.
01) Greece: 96.10
Comfortably coming in first place, Greece scored highly across all categories, achieving 100% in numerous areas such as cybersecurity policy development, education and professional development and protection of essential services.
02) Belgium: 93.51
The highest Western European nation in the index, Belgium received a 100% rating in nine out of 12 categories. Its weakest point was cyber crisis management, scoring just 40%, partly because it doesn’t have legislative procedures for using volunteers in the field of cybersecurity.
03) Lithuania: 93.51
Sharing the silver medal, the Baltic state currently has a 100% rating in most categories, such as cyber crisis management, protection of personal data and contribution to global cybersecurity. However, Lithuania fell down on its cyber military operations (50%) as it does not have a specialized unit in this area.
04) Czech Republic: 92.21
The central European country performs strongly across all categories, except for one. This is in relation to its contribution to global cybersecurity (50%), as it does not host a regional or international cybersecurity organization.
05) Estonia: 90.91
The tiny Northern European nation impressively holds fifth place in the standings. Its biggest failing, according to NCSI’s criteria, is the lack of a cybercrime unit, defined as a government entity with a specific function of combatting cybercrime.
06) Germany: 90.91
Germany scores perfectly in numerous categories, including education and professional development. However, its failure to conduct military cyber-operations exercises in the past three years and host a regional or international cybersecurity organization have prevented it from ranking higher.
07) Portugal: 89.61
The Mediterranean nation scored top marks in most categories, such as its contribution to global cybersecurity. Portugal’s weakest aspect was its protection of essential services (33%), partly due to the lack of a competent cyber supervisory authority for operators of essential services.
08) Spain: 88.31
Spain came in just behind its neighbor, Portugal, in the NCSI rankings. It scored strongly across most categories, but there’s significant room for improvement in its
cyber-incidents response (67%) and crisis management (60%).
09) Poland: 87.01
The central European nation gained full marks in all aspects of incident and crisis management. Poland’s lowest score came from its contribution to global cybersecurity (33%), partly because it has not helped finance or organize at least one capacity-building project for another country in the last three years.
10) Finland: 85.71
Creeping into the top 10, the Nordic country scored top marks in several important areas, such as E-identification and trust services and personal data protection. However, it received 0% in protecting essential services, preventing a higher placing.