Report: UK one of most prepared countries in EU for cyber attacks
The UK can count itself among the EU countries with the best measures already in place to deal with a cyber attack, according to a new report, though every member state could do more to improve their preparedness.
The Netherlands come out top of a new ranking of EU nations by cyber attack preparedness compiled by Website Builder Expert (WBE), which rates the country’s measures at 60 per cent completeness.
Following the Dutch are Estonia with 58 per cent, France and Italy on 57 per cent and the UK with 56 per cent respectively.
WBE’s scoring system averages a country’s cyber commitment rating versus its proportion of protected internet connections.
Propping up the overall ranking were Lithuania, which scored 40 per cent, Spain on 38 per cent, Greece with 35 per cent and Slovakia and Malta ranked the joint least-prepared states with a score of only 34 per cent.
Despite being one of the most prepared countries, the Netherlands is the second most likely target of cyber crime with a “victimhood” rating of 21 per cent, second only to Romania’s 23 per cent.
Finland (12 per cent) and Slovakia (14 per cent) rank lowest for victimhood, with Germany, Ireland and Australia (all 15 per cent) following shortly behind.
When it comes to countries at risk of cyber crime, however, Malta ranks highest with a vulnerability score of 42 per cent. This rating encompasses a range of factors, including previous run-ins with malware, commitment to cyber security schemes and how exposed a country’s internet connections are.
James Kiernan, director of WBE, pointed out that this made Malta’s inhabitants at far more risk than those of neighbouring countries in the long run thanks to a lack of protection and prevention.
He added: “While it is reassuring to see countries such as the UK and Germany among the safer nations, the level of cyber vulnerability across Europe is still cause for alarm, especially in the wake of June’s massive cyber attack.”
June saw the NotPetya malware target organisations across Ukraine, including national electricity firm Ukrenego, the country’s central bank and public transit services throughout the country.
