Cybersecurity is a growing concern among governments, businesses and individuals around the world. Cyberattacks can have severe impacts on everyone.
A recent report from researchers at the University of Oxford identified 57 different impacts that cyber incidents can have. They ranged from regulatory fines to depression to damaged relationships with customers. According to a report by Cisco, more than half of organizations face public scrutiny after a cyberattack and 22 percent lose customers.
Like with any threat, some countries are better at dealing with cyberattacks than others. A recent study from technology research company Comparitech looked at cybersecurity around the world and scored 60 countries on their cybersecurity practices.
The study found significant differences in how well nations are protecting themselves. The results revealed that every country had room for improvement, however.
The Study’s Methodology
The study looked at seven criteria, giving each equal weight. The criteria were:
- The percentage of mobile devices affected by malware
- The percentage of computers affected by malware
- The number of financial attacks using malware
- The percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices by originating country
- The percentage of cryptomining attacks
- The countries best prepared for cyberattacks
- The countries with the best legislation
The researchers based scores for all but the last two items on the percentage of attacks that occurred during 2018. To determine the best-prepared countries, researchers used the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) scores.
The researchers also looked at existing and drafted legislation related to privacy, content, national strategy, critical infrastructure, commerce, crime and military. Countries received one point for each piece of existing legislation and half a point for each draft.
The study’s authors then ranked each country for each criterion. Nations with the least secure scores received 100 points, while those with the best scores received zero points. Those in between received a score on a percentile basis. The researchers then averaged the rating for each country across all seven categories.
Comparitech noted that it used the most recent available data for all the countries and only included those that had data available for all the criteria.
The Least Secure Countries
So, which countries received the worst rankings? The 10 worst-performing nations were Algeria, Indonesia, Vietnam, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Belarus, Iran and Ukraine. Let’s take a closer look at the first three.
Algeria
Algeria was the overall worst-ranked nation. It received these marks for legislation and computer malware, and it also scored poorly for mobile malware and cyberattack preparation. Here are its score breakdowns:
- Overall score: 55.75
- Percentage of mobile devices infected by malware: 22.88
- Percentage of users impacted by financial malware attacks: 0.9
- Percentage of computers infected by malware: 32.41
- Percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices: 0.01
- Percentage of cryptomining attacks: 5.14
- Preparation for cyberattacks: 0.432
- Up-to-date legislation: 1
Indonesia
Indonesia scored across the seven criteria as follows:
- Overall score: 54.89
- Percentage of mobile devices infected by malware: 25.02
- Percentage of users impacted by financial malware attacks: 1.8
- Percentage of computers infected by malware: 24.7
- Percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices: 1.51
- Percentage of cryptomining attacks: 8.8
- Preparation for cyberattacks: 0.424
- Up-to-date legislation: 4
Vietnam
Vietnam was ranked as the least prepared for cyberattacks. Here’s how it ranked across all categories:
- Overall score: 52.44
- Percentage of mobile devices infected by malware: 9.62
- Percentage of users impacted by financial malware attacks: 1.2
- Percentage of computers infected by malware: 21.5
- Percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices: 1.73
- Percentage of cryptomining attacks: 8.96
- Preparation for cyberattacks: 0.245
- Up-to-date legislation: 2
The Most Secure Countries
Which of the 60 studied scored the best? The 10 top-performing countries were Japan, France, Canada, Denmark, the United States, Ireland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Singapore. The top three countries ranked as follows across all seven categories.
Japan
Japan scored extremely well across most criteria. It has the most room for improvement in the cyberattack preparation and legislation areas. It received the best score for mobile device malware infection.
- Overall score: 8.81
- Percentage of mobile devices infected by malware: 1.34
- Percentage of users impacted by financial malware attacks: 0.5
- Percentage of computers infected by malware: 8.3
- Percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices: 1.23
- Percentage of cryptomining attacks: 1.1
- Preparation for cyberattacks: 0.786
- Up-to-date legislation: 6
France
Here’s how France, the second best-performing country, scored across all seven categories.
- Overall score: 10.58
- Percentage of mobile devices infected by malware: 4.72
- Percentage of users impacted by financial malware attacks: 0.4
- Percentage of computers infected by malware: 16.2
- Percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices: 0.67
- Percentage of cryptomining attacks: 1.12
- Preparation for cyberattacks: 0.819
- Up-to-date legislation: 7
Canada
Canada was number three. Here’s how it scored:
- Overall score: 11.19
- Percentage of mobile devices infected by malware: 3.91
- Percentage of users impacted by financial malware attacks: 0.4
- Percentage of computers infected by malware: 14.3
- Percentage of telnet attacks on IoT devices: 0.47
- Percentage of cyptomining attacks: 0.81
- Preparation for cyberattacks: 0.818
- Up-to-date legislation: 6
About the author
Kayla Matthews is a technology and cybersecurity writer, and the owner of ProductivityBytes.com. To learn more about Kayla and her re
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