Democratic countries with a well-to-do population monopolize the first places in the rankings of the most secure computer systems. This is also reflected in people’s choice of passwords.
Cultures vary from country to country, cyber education too. According to a report by the company GoSecure published on September 29, countries with democratic governments or with higher GDP per capita have a population that is more sensitive to cybersecurity. To make this observation, the researchers relied on many factors as well as on other studies.
The global cybersecurity exposure index, for example, places Finland, Denmark and Luxembourg in the top 3 countries with the least personal data exposed on the web and darknet. France is in fifteenth place.
When we then take the report of the top 200 passwords by country, we find that Finland contains three letter + number combinations among the 10 most popular codes in the country. Quite rare since the majority of the population is most often limited to the classic “123456” or a simple word.
The countries cited also have a high literacy rate and GDP per capita. Naturally, a better education system makes it possible to teach other disciplines apart from the traditional subjects and thus to sensitize young people to cybersecurity. A more prosperous state will fund campaigns or have more active agencies to alert people to risks.
Finally, the richer one is, the more enviable one is. Europe, North America as well as Japan and China are prime targets. Most of the hacks target these countries. The investment in cyber defense is proportional to the number of attacks.
The history of the country to take into account
The Global Cybersecurity Index is another report considered by GoSecure researchers. This ranking also serves as a reference thanks to the many factors taken into account – legislative framework, infrastructure, development in the field – to rank the countries. We thus discover that authoritarian regimes like that of Saudi Arabia are 2ᵉ, equivalent to the United Kingdom and behind the United States. The United Arab Emirates are fifth.
These reports perhaps forget to specify that the historical context is decisive. Estonia 3ᵉ and Lithuania 6ᵉ inherit a culture built during the USSR and the technological race with the former Western bloc. These countries have maintained extensive training in the sector and remain internationally renowned talent nests. France enjoys a comfortable 9ᵉ place. But if France benefits from a legislative framework as well as serious infrastructures, the lack of talent is felt and will be one of the biggest challenges in the decades to come.
