Which countries have the best cyber security? Albania tops the global list
Baku, August 12, AZERTAC
Estonia's e-Governance Academy ranks Albania and Czechia as the world's most cyber-secure nations, with major attacks often forcing the top-to-bottom overhauls that push smaller, easier-to-coordinate states ahead of larger powers like Germany and the US, Euronews reported.
Albania has the world's strongest cyber defenses, according to a global index that puts the Balkan nation ahead of tech powerhouses including Germany, the UK and the United States.
The ranking, from Estonia's e-Governance Academy (eGA), scores 155 countries and territories out of 100 points based on their readiness to prevent and respond to cyber attacks.
Its top two, Albania and Czechia, are not the names one might expect to top a global security league table.
Meanwhile, some of the world's largest economies rank surprisingly low. Germany sits in 13th place, the UK in 42nd and the US in the 31st — all trailing considerably behind Moldova, Jordan and North Macedonia.
At the bottom of the table are Micronesia, Palau and Timor-Leste.
The National Cyber Security Index (NCSI) is built from 49 indicators grouped into 12 capacities across three categories: strategic, preventive and responsive cybersecurity.
It covers everything from legislation and dedicated cyber units to crisis response plans and international cooperation.
As geopolitical tensions rise worldwide, cyber security has become a national priority for governments seeking to protect critical infrastructure, from power grids and hospitals to transport and financial systems, against escalating attacks.
Beyond the ranking itself, the NCSI also functions as an open database of evidence and official documents, helping governments identify gaps in their defenses and build capacity where it's lacking.
Albania scored 98.33 out of 100 — a striking result for a country not typically associated with cyber security leadership.
It posted a perfect score across all its strategic indicators, including cyber policy, international cooperation, and education and research, and again across all preventive indicators, covering critical infrastructure protection, threat analysis and data protection.
Its only shortfall came under military cyber defense, where it scored two-thirds of the available points.
Every other responsive indicator, including incident response, crisis management and cybercrime enforcement, hit full marks. The gap traces to a single missing element: Albania has no published military cyber doctrine, the document that sets out the armed forces' rules for conducting cyber operations.
For Albania, the top-tier score followed a 2022 cyberattack by Iranian state hackers — so serious that Tirana severed diplomatic ties with Tehran over it — which forced a clean, top-down legal overhaul.
Rather than a setback, the crisis triggered rapid modernization: legal frameworks were overhauled, defense operations centralized under the National Authority for Cyber Security and partnerships forged with the EU, the US and major tech firms. The government also moved to secure e-Albania, the digital portal that hosts 95% of the country's public services.
Czechia matched Albania's score of 98.33, with a stronger digital development level than its Balkan counterpart.
Like Albania, it scored full marks everywhere except military cyber defense, where the same single gap applied: no published military cyber doctrine.
Its resilience rests on a centralized national strategy, close public-private coordination and a dedicated regulator, the National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB), backed by EU and NATO alliances.
Czechia regularly updates its national cyber security strategy to address emerging threats, and imposes strict, tiered compliance requirements on critical sectors including energy, health and finance — pushing companies well beyond basic IT defenses.
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