According to the recent global cybersecurity index of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Estonia is ranked fifth in the world.
The ranking is shared with Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, Germany and the UK. The US is ranked first and Canada second.
The top three also includes Australia, Malaysia and Oman – all sharing the third ranking. Finland is ranked eighth and Latvia seventh.
Raul Rikk, the programme director for cybersecurity at the e-Governance Academy, said the ranking constitutes a positive recognition for Estonia. “The fifth ranking is an excellent result since Estonia generally ranks between 15 to 20 in global information society indexes,” Rikk said. However, he admitted the rankings were fairly surprising, with many countries that are ordinarily not considered to be information society powerhouses leading the rankings.
According to Rikk, this is the first attempt by the ITU to globally evaluate the cybersecurity situation in countries. “The current methodology of the ITU focuses on quantitative indicators rather than quality. In other words, it is measured whether certain documents, organisations and rules of procedure exist or not. The index does not evaluate the content, quality and impact of the measures. This has led to instances where a country whose formal paperwork is in order has been ranked higher than countries where actual cybersecurity measures are applied more efficiently,” he explained.
I
Cover: Wikimedia Commons.
