Which is the most cyber-secure country in the world?

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Electronics Media
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cyber-secure country in the world

Our findings revealed Japan to be the most cyber-secure country in the world. It scored incredibly low across the majority of categories, only scoring a little higher in the preparation for cyber attacks and legislation categories.

Other top-performing countries included France, Canada, Denmark, and the United States.

As before, some countries scored well in one category but had other scores that brought their average up. These include Ukraine, which had the lowest financial malware rate, and Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, and Algeria, which had the lowest telnet attack scores.

The lowest-scoring countries per category were:

  • Lowest percentage of mobile malware infections – Japan – 1.34% of users
  • Lowest number of financial malware attacks – Ukraine – 0.3% of users
  • Lowest percent of computer malware infections –  Denmark – 5.9% of users
  • Lowest percentage of telnet attacks (by originating country) – Algeria, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka – 0.01%
  • Lowest percentage of attacks by cryptominers – Denmark – 0.61% of users
  • Best prepared for cyber attacks – Singapore – 0.925 score
  • Most up-to-date legislation for cybersecurity – France, China, Russia, and Germany – all 7 categories covered

Overall cybersecurity rankings (from the worst to the best)

Rank Country Score Percentage of Mobiles Infected with Malware Financial Malware Attacks (% of Users) Percentage of Computers Infected with Malware Percentage of Telnet Attacks by Originating Country (IoT) Percentage of Attacks by Cryptominers Best Prepared for Cyberattacks Most Up-to-Date Legislation
1 Algeria 55.75 22.88 0.9 32.41 0.01 5.14 0.432 1
2 Indonesia 54.89 25.02 1.8 24.7 1.51 8.8 0.424 4
3 Vietnam 52.44 9.62 1.2 21.5 1.73 8.96 0.245 2
4 Tanzania 51.00 28.03 0.7 14.7 0.04 7.51 0.317 1.5
5 Uzbekistan 50.50 10.35 0.5 21.3 0.01 14.23 0.277 3
6 Bangladesh 47.21 35.91 1.3 19.7 0.38 3.71 0.524 3.5
7 Pakistan 47.10 25.08 1.4 14.8 0.4 6.07 0.447 2.5
8 Belarus 45.09 9.33 0.7 31.1 0.04 9.73 0.592 3
9 Iran 43.29 28.07 0.8 12.7 1.71 4.51 0.494 2
10 Ukraine 42.58 10.85 0.3 28.7 1.17 7.6 0.501 3
11 Nigeria 42.54 28.54 0.7 15.6 0.89 4.54 0.569 2
12 Peru 41.25 13.81 0.9 16.6 0.22 6.29 0.374 3
13 China 40.80 25.61 1.4 11.8 27.15 1.73 0.624 7
14 Sri Lanka 39.59 13.71 1.1 18.8 0.01 3.61 0.419 3
15 India 39.30 25.25 0.7 21.8 2.59 4.4 0.683 3.5
16 Greece 39.06 5.78 2.3 21.6 0.73 1.77 0.475 4
17 Romania 39.02 6.42 1.2 24.6 0.61 3.21 0.585 2
18 Ecuador 38.29 14.13 0.7 16.8 0.4 3.73 0.466 2
19 Azerbaijan 38.20 6.53 0.9 26.7 0.03 7.13 0.559 4
20 Egypt 38.03 18.8 1.3 20.2 7.43 4.01 0.772 4
21 Bulgaria 37.86 7.96 0.4 21.5 10.57 2.74 0.593 4
22 South Korea 37.16 7.14 2.8 14.3 3.57 3.1 0.782 3
23 United Arab Emirates 36.88 9.14 1.9 20.7 0.09 2.99 0.566 4
24 Philippines 36.79 23.07 0.6 23.8 0.1 2.94 0.594 4
25 Morocco 36.47 10.61 1.5 21.7 0.11 3.01 0.541 4
26 Slovakia 35.57 5.32 0.6 22 0.13 2.76 0.362 3
27 Tunisia 35.54 9.85 1.2 21.5 0.1 2.78 0.591 3
28 South Africa 34.39 9.9 1 13.4 0.64 2.51 0.502 2
29 Kenya 34.16 21.43 1.2 17 0.15 3.39 0.574 5
30 Brazil 33.57 4.73 1.8 21.4 0.7 3.49 0.579 3
31 Latvia 33.05 6.25 1.4 23.1 0.17 4.17 0.688 4
32 Saudi Arabia 32.99 10.15 0.7 20.7 0.11 2.72 0.569 3
33 Portugal 32.79 5.25 1.9 20.9 0.09 1.63 0.508 5
34 Thailand 32.42 7.26 1 19.7 0.79 4.27 0.684 3
35 Malaysia 31.79 15.46 2.1 21.7 0.24 2.87 0.893 5
36 Italy 28.31 5.24 1.3 18 1.75 1.14 0.626 4
37 Argentina 28.11 11.71 0.9 18.8 0.86 2.11 0.482 6
38 Russia 28.02 10.11 0.6 23 7.87 6.89 0.788 7
39 Colombia 27.69 12.52 0.5 16.4 0.52 2.01 0.569 4
40 Poland 27.36 5.83 0.8 19.9 1.23 1.73 0.622 4
41 Hungary 27.30 7.28 0.8 20.2 0.3 4.19 0.534 6
42 Mexico 27.17 10.49 0.7 19.5 0.73 1.43 0.66 4
43 Croatia 27.09 3.66 1.8 15.2 0.05 1.91 0.59 5
44 Germany 26.48 3.41 3 15.7 1.11 0.91 0.679 7
45 Austria 25.76 2.94 1.4 12.3 0.12 0.84 0.639 3
46 Spain 24.12 5.14 0.8 18.6 1.1 1.56 0.718 4
47 Turkey 23.20 8.94 0.8 15.6 1.82 2.17 0.581 6
48 Belgium 21.03 4.11 0.4 13.5 0.07 0.97 0.671 3
49 Czech Republic 20.37 5.68 0.5 10.9 0.34 1.44 0.609 4
50 Australia 16.34 5.47 0.8 14.5 0.37 0.88 0.824 5
51 Singapore 15.13 8.18 0.8 8.5 0.14 1.61 0.925 4
52 Netherlands 15.00 3.71 0.6 8.1 0.32 1.06 0.76 4
53 United Kingdom 14.15 3.68 0.7 10.5 1.07 0.88 0.783 5
54 Sweden 13.78 3.15 0.4 11 0.45 1.31 0.733 5
55 Ireland 13.41 3.73 0.5 7.9 0.06 0.85 0.675 5
56 United States 12.20 7.68 0.5 10.3 4.47 0.71 0.919 5.5
57 Denmark 12.04 1.98 0.4 5.9 0.04 0.61 0.617 5
58 Canada 11.19 3.91 0.4 14.3 0.47 0.81 0.818 6
59 France 10.58 4.72 0.4 16.2 0.67 1.12 0.819 7
60 Japan 8.81 1.34 0.5 8.3 1.23 1.1 0.786 6

What can we take away from these findings?

Despite some countries having clear strengths and weaknesses, there is definite room for improvement in each and every one. Whether they need to strengthen their legislation or users need help putting better protections in place on their computers and mobiles, there’s still a long way to go to make our countries cyber secure.

Plus, as the landscape of cybersecurity constantly changes (cryptominers are growing in prevalence, for example), countries need to try and get one step ahead of cybercriminals.

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