National Cybersecurity: A Descriptive Snapshot of 161 Countries

Abstract

National cybersecurity includes so many topics and considerations that a global overview of trends is a quite complex endeavor. Previous studies either focus on individual countries or multiple ones while considering only a specific subtopic or point of interest of national cyber security. The purpose of this article is to present the regional cybersecurity trends of 161 nations, as of late January 2023, through the use of the National Cyber Security Index (NCSI). With the help of the NCSI, its methodology and publicly available database, we will provide both global and regional snapshots of what countries have been focusing on and doing in reference to their national cybersecurity. This will allow the discovery of similarities, best practices, and more importantly, underdeveloped topics that should be improved upon to guarantee a more robust approach to national cybersecurity. Globally, the national approaches seem to be reactionary, with very little focus on proactive measures, but regionally some differences start to appear. Future research will be able to build upon this research by either individual case studies or comparative studies among multiple countries.