India jumps 37 places to rank 10 in Global Cybersecurity Index 2020

According to a United Nations report released on Tuesday, India has jumped 37 places to 10th position in the Global Cyber ​​Security Index (GCI) 2020.

The GCI is a composite index created, analyzed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations, to measure the commitment to cybersecurity of its 194 member countries to raise cybersecurity awareness. The latest report is the fourth GCI edition by the ITU, the first version of which was launched six years ago.

India ranked 10th in the fourth edition of the Global Cyber ​​Security Index 2020 (GCI), a significant jump of 37 places from its previous GCI rank in 2018. Breaking into the top 10 in the list released by the United Nations (UN) agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ITU), India also ranks fourth in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to an official release, the GCI measures countries’ commitment to cybersecurity on a global scale, to raise awareness of the importance and various dimensions of the issue.

As cybersecurity has a wide area of ​​application, cutting across multiple industries and different sectors, each country’s development or engagement is assessed along five pillars – (i) Legal measures, (ii) Technical measures, (iii) Organizational measures, (iv) Capacity development, and (v) Cooperation- and then aggregated into a composite



score, the release said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla addressed the United Nations Security Council High-level Open Debate on Cyber ​​Security.

“Digital gaps between nations create an unsustainable environment in the cyber domain. Increasing digital dependence in the post-COVID era has exposed digital disparities. This must be bridged through capacity building,” Shringla said in the UNSC debate

The Foreign Secretary said “There’s a sophisticated use of cyberspace by terrorists to broaden their propaganda and incite hatred. As a victim of terrorism, India has always stressed the need for the Member Countries to tackle the effects of terrorist exploitation of cyber domain more strategically.”

The top rank in the GCI was achieved by the US with a score of 100. The UK and Saudi Arabia finished second, tied for next place with a score of 99.54. In the Asia Pacific region, South Korea and Singapore are on top with a score of 98.52, which ranks fourth globally. Other countries at the top of the index include Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia (98.06) at fifth place, Lithuania at sixth, Japan at seventh and Canada, France and India at the subsequent positions.

Among other countries, Turkey (97.49) was ranked 11th, Germany (97.41) at 13th, China (92.53) at 33rd and Israel (90.93) at 36th position.