Which EU Country Has the Best Cybersecurity?

Key Takeaways

• Finland has the best cybersecurity in the EU on the National Cyber Security Index (NCSI). Finland’s government has almost every structure the NCSI checks for, including a published action plan for its cybersecurity strategy.
• Missing national plans leave Germany with the lowest NCSI score among the EU’s four largest economies. Germany adopted its 2021 cybersecurity strategy without an action plan or an estimate of the money and staff it needed.
• Malta records the EU’s lowest NCSI score. Malta has a national cybersecurity strategy but gets zero NCSI points for the leadership, coordination and action plan needed to carry it out.
• The EU’s top NCSI scorers have the plans, agencies, and crisis structures to put their cybersecurity strategy into action, not just the strategy itself.

Cybersecurity Preparedness Across EU Countries

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Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

Finland Has the Best Cybersecurity in the EU

Finland ranks first in the EU on the National Cyber Security Index (NCSI). The NCSI scores how prepared a national government is to prevent and handle cyberattacks. The NCSI does not measure how often a country is hacked or how well private companies protect themselves.

Finland gets full points on 47 of the 49 NCSI indicators.

Cyber crisis management covers how a government prepares for and responds to a major cyberattack. A national cybersecurity strategy sets out a government’s cybersecurity goals.

Finland has both national cybersecurity plans that Germany and Malta lack:

• An action plan that turns Finland’s cybersecurity strategy into concrete tasks, published in December 2024
• A national cyber crisis management plan, which sets out who does what when a major cyberattack hits

Finland’s cybersecurity plans grew out of a wider national preparedness approach called “comprehensive security.” Since 2003, Finland has kept a strategy for protecting the services society needs to keep running during a crisis. Under comprehensive security, government authorities, businesses, organizations and citizens share that responsibility.

Finland decided in 2011 to write its first cybersecurity strategy as part of comprehensive security. Finland has also paired that strategy with implementation plans, including a program for 2017 to 2020.

Germany Has the Lowest Cybersecurity Score Among the EU’s Four Largest Economies

Germany’s NCSI score of 85.00 is the lowest among the EU’s four largest economies. France and Spain each score 89.17 on the NCSI, and Italy scores 90.00.

Germany loses the most NCSI points in two areas:

• Cybersecurity policy: 9 out of 15 points, with no action plan for the national strategy
• Cyber crisis management: 4 out of 9 points, with no national crisis plan

Cybersecurity policy covers whether a government has a national cybersecurity strategy and the officials and bodies to lead it.

Germany adopted its current cybersecurity strategy in September 2021 without an action plan. An action plan sets out concrete tasks, who carries them out, and the money and staff behind them.

Germany’s cybersecurity strategy left three parts of an action plan undefined:

• Priorities: The strategy sets 44 goals but does not rank which ones matter most.
• Resources: The government did not calculate the money or staff needed to reach those goals.
• Tasks: The government left each federal ministry to choose its own cybersecurity measures.

Malta Has the Lowest Cybersecurity Score in the EU

Malta ranks last in the EU on the NCSI score. Its score of 58.33 is less than two-thirds of Finland’s.

Malta has a national cybersecurity strategy covering 2023 to 2026. Malta’s NCSI profile lacks the structures needed to put that strategy into action.

Malta gets zero NCSI points for three structures that lead and coordinate cybersecurity policy:

• A minister or official formally in charge of cybersecurity
• A central government body that develops cybersecurity policy
• A regular format for coordinating cybersecurity policy across government

Malta’s NCSI profile lacks both national plans that Finland has. Malta gets zero NCSI points for an action plan for its strategy and for a national cyber crisis management plan.

A national cybersecurity strategy on paper is not enough to score well on the NCSI. The gap between the EU’s top and bottom scorers lies in the plans, agencies, and crisis structures that put a strategy into action.