Singapore, a south Asian island roughly the size of Lexington, Kentucky, took first place Wednesday in an United Nations survey ranking its members’ commitment toward cybersecurity.
The U.S. ranked second worldwide in terms of cybersecurity, the U.N. International Telecommunication Union concluded Wednesday in its Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI). It is the second ever audit of each member state’s digital stature.
The international agency reviewed each of its 193 member states with respect to five categories concerning cybersecurity – legal, technical, organizational, capacity building and international cooperation – then ranked them from first to last in terms of their commitment to each.
Singapore was assigned an overall score of 0.92, just barely beating the 0.91 ranking received by the U.S.
The U.S. received scores higher than — or equal to — Singapore in four of the five categories, but ranked significantly worse with regards to cooperation, or its collaborative efforts across national and international domains as well as between the public and private sector, according to the U.N.’s rubric.
“The United States of America has the highest scores for the legal and capacity building pillars,” the report said. “One notable aspect of both capacity building and cooperation in the country is the initiatives to coordinate cybersecurity among all states. To that end, the National Governor’s Association established the Resource Center for State Cybersecurity, which offers best practices, tools and guidelines.”
Rounding out the top 10 in order from third place were Malaysia, Oman, Estonia, Mauritius, Australia, Georgia, France and Canada. Equatorial Guinea placed last with an overall score of zero.
“We continue to encourage governments to consider national policies that take into account cybersecurity so that everyone can reap the benefits of the online world,” said Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau.
“Cybersecurity is an ecosystem where laws, organizations, skills, cooperation and technical implementation need to be in harmony to be most effective,” the report said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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