With cybersecurity increasing in importance more than ever in these recent years, it was inevitable that people would compare cybersecurity programs from each nation. ‘Cipher’ a cybersecurity company took stats from four reports/articles that ranked countries in terms of their cybersecurity programs. In two of the four reports the United States came first in terms of cybersecurity effectiveness. The United Kingdom came first in the report by the International Telecom Union. The United States came first in reports by Analytics Insights and CyberDB. Japan came first in the report from Comparitech. Cipher mentions how the second and third reports may have some ambiguity when it comes to their rankings, but that Comparitech and ITU have a more solid method of comparing each country.
The Washington Post asserts, according to a 182-page report, that the United States is still number one on June 28, 2021. WP says that the report puts the United States as a ‘first tier’ cyber power. It ranks countries like Russia and China as ‘second tier’ cyber powers. However, recent reports have arose that China is rapidly expanding their cybersecurity program. WP mentions how the authors of the report assert that China is “on a trajectory to join the U.S. in the first tier of cyber powers.”
If the United States wants to stay at the front of the cybersecurity race it needs to divert focus toward cybersecurity expenses. According to a government report, the United States spent $17.4 billion on cybersecurity in 2020. In a different government document, it is shown that the President at the time proposed spending upwards to $58.4 billion on civilian agencies to bolster their cybersecurity systems.
I have not been able to find concrete numbers from government sources from a country like China and how much it has spent on cybersecurity in recent years. This makes it hard to compare, but it should be remembered that, as previously stated, it is seen that China is attempting to catch up and surpass the United States in term of cybersecurity strength.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2020-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2020-PER-5-8.pdf
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2022-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2022-PER-6-2.pdf
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