Organizations of all types are getting breached at an alarming rate everywhere, which makes picking the top countries leading the cyber defense race a challenging endeavor.
What matters ultimately is a nation’s leadership and responsiveness in cybersecurity matters, so we’ve weighted organizational and legal capacity more heavily than other measures in ranking national cybersecurity efforts. Without pressure and urgency from the top, issues that can be ignored are likely to be ignored until they become a problem, so active central security agencies and leadership are necessary components in addressing the overwhelming volume of cybersecurity threats.
There are a number of resources that rank countries by their cybersecurity defenses, each with its own breadth and focus. Because of its comprehensive nature spanning 194 countries, we’ve given added weight to the recently updated United Nations International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Global Cybersecurity Index in developing this list. The National Cyber Security Index (NCSI) also has very good methodology and data, but with only 61 countries listed, it’s not nearly as comprehensive as ITU.
Here then are the top 8 countries for cybersecurity defense efforts, with an emphasis on those countries proposing fresh solutions to pressing cybersecurity problems as we head into 2025.
#1: Finland
Europe has been a clear leader in cybersecurity, with 20 countries receiving the top “Role-modelling” status from the ITU. That’s nearly double the number from APAC, the next-highest region in the report. Five of those countries – Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey and the UK – received perfect scores from the ITU.
Nordic countries in general do very well across almost all analyses for the top countries for cybersecurity, in part due to regional and international cooperation and educational initiatives, but we’ll give the nod to Finland for its new comprehensive national security strategy that shows deep understanding of current cybersecurity challenges – and a 10-year roadmap for staying on top of them.
Like all countries on this list, and indeed, all countries in general, Finland has had its share of cybersecurity challenges, including spoofing attacks targeting the Bank of Finland, cyberespionage linked to China’s APT31 threat group, and cyberattacks from Russia following Finland’s 2023 NATO membership, in addition to numerous ransomware attacks and data breaches. If the country can live up to its cybersecurity ambitions, it will be a model to watch.
#2: The UK
Despite leaving the EU in 2020, the UK has retained much of the EU’s world-leading approach to cybersecurity and data privacy. With a strong central cybersecurity agency – the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – and membership in the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance that also includes the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the UK is well positioned both for domestic cyber defenses and international cooperation.
The UK will soon introduce in Parliament the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which is aimed at strengthening cybersecurity controls, reporting and incident response, a much-needed boost after a rough 2024 that included the brutal NHS London ransomware attack.
#3: The United States
The U.S. gets attacked ten times more than any other country, largely due to the very high number of rich targets and willingness of victims to pay, but the practical, open approach of security agencies like CISA merit a spot on this list. China-linked threat actors may be dwelling in U.S. critical infrastructure and telecom networks, but we know the details – including techniques, Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and recommended solutions – only because CISA, the NSA and other agencies have openly shared critical information and solutions.
The U.S. is one of only two countries in the Americas to achieve the top “Role-modelling” rating from the ITU; Brazil is the other. Surprisingly, there were no perfect ITU scores in the Americas; the U.S. came up just short in training and awareness.
One weakness in the U.S. is the lack of a national data privacy law – the U.S. is woefully out of step with other countries here, as well as many of its own states. Another weakness is that private organizations don’t always share the federal government’s responsive approach to cybersecurity, leading to frequent headlines of massive data breaches and ransomware attacks.
#4: Singapore
The Asia-Pacific region boasts several technology and cybersecurity powerhouses like Australia, Japan and India, but surprisingly, only Indonesia and South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) had perfect marks from ITU, while Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand came up just short. Out of that impressive list we’ll pick Singapore – and give a nod to the Republic of Korea too.
Singapore came up just short of a perfect ITU score (a total of 99.86 points across the five 20-point areas measured by ITU, the same score as the U.S.), and is on this list because of a dizzying array of initiatives like a new operational technology (OT) master plan, training and education, research, consumer device labeling, a vulnerability discovery program and many other initiatives that reveal a deep understanding of – and innovative solutions to – evolving cybersecurity challenges. Every country should be that engaged in finding solutions to this pressing problem.
#5: South Korea
With you share a border with an adversary launching more than a million cyberattacks at you every day, cybersecurity becomes a pretty high priority, so the Republic of Korea (ROK), aka South Korea, is a country worth watching.
The new National Cybersecurity Basic Plan, a follow up to the National Cybersecurity Strategy released just a few months earlier in February 2024, includes dramatic goals such as conducting “preemptive and proactive cyber defense activities against cyber attacks and threat actors that undermine national security and interests, and establish a foundation for responding to ‘disinformation’ that divides public opinion and causes social unrest in cyberspace.”
Those are critically important goals for all countries, so any success ROK has will be worth duplicating elsewhere.
#6: Saudi Arabia
The Arab nations came in just behind Europe in the number of perfect ITU scores, with Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all registering a perfect 100.
Saudi Arabia is a clear leader in that group. In the last two years, the Kingdom has launched a National Cybersecurity Strategy, a guide to Essential Cybersecurity Controls, and a Personal Data Protection Law. Bold steps from a country committed to becoming a leader in cybersecurity.
#7: United Arab Emirates
Not to be outdone, the UAE has launched initiatives like the Dubai Cyber Security Strategy, which includes intriguing goals such as “advancing cyber security research, fostering an innovation ecosystem, ensuring secure adoption of emerging technologies.”
Coming soon: new policies on cloud and data security, IoT security, and security operations centers (SOCs). Quantum encryption for data transmission is expected to be part of those policies.
#8: Mauritius
As the only African country with a perfect ITU score, Mauritius – a tiny island nation of 1.3 million in the Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles east of Madagascar – rounds out this list. With a comprehensive three-year cybersecurity strategy and many other initiatives – including shared threat intelligence and a honeypot network – this tiny country shows that size is not an obstacle to achieving strong cybersecurity.
Conclusion: The Leading Cybersecurity Countries
The countries leading in cybersecurity defense share a few common themes:
- Fresh strategies that show a deep understanding of cybersecurity threats and challenges – and creative solutions to address those challenges
- Strong central agencies capable of providing leadership and technical assistance
- A commitment to training, awareness and education
The year ahead will almost certainly see bold initiatives from other countries determined to tip the balance of power from attackers to defenders.
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