A new study of online security has crowned Portugal the most cyber-safe in Europe, while the UK comes in 16th. ESET’s European Cyber Security Index analyses each nation on seven factors, including commitment to cyber security, amount of cyber security legislation, and number of victims of identity theft in the last three years.

The factors included the number of pieces of cyber security legislation, the percentage of each country’s residents who’ve fallen victim to bank card or online banking fraud in the last three years and the percentage in each nation whose social network or email accounts were hacked in the last three years.

The best:

1 Portugal 8.21 out of 10
2 Lithuania 7.99
3 Slovakia 7.21
4 Greece 7.03
5 Spain 6.82

The worst:

20 Luxembourg 4.40
21 Belgium 4.37
22 France 4.36
23 Austria 3.80
24 Romania 3.27

Jake Moore, cyber security specialist for ESET, commented on the findings: “No single measure – whether it’s the amount of legislation or the number of banking fraud victims – can tell the whole story when it comes to cyber security. Protecting citizens online is incredibly complicated, and there’s no one right way to do it. In practice, cyber safety can mean different things for different people, so this is not a case of ‘one size fits all’. Nonetheless, it’s important for nations to be aware of the actions taken across Europe and learn from one another wherever possible. A truly holistic approach to cyber security requires a breadth of knowledge about potential approaches, including how and when they work best.

“While it’s disappointing to see the UK ranking so far down The European Cyber Security Index, it is encouraging that the nation has scored so highly for commitment to cyber security. With every new initiative, we become a step closer to a safer internet for everyone. Ultimately, cyber security works best when we work together, whether that’s between individual people or entire countries. As the internet is international, no one country can be responsible for cyber safety. Recent events have shown us that co-operation and collaboration are more important than ever.”

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