The United States, China and Russia placed as the top three nations with the greatest cybersecurity capabilities in 2022, according to a Harvard University report published Sept. 27.
The 2022 National Cyber Power Index, published by Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, ranked the top 30 nations with the greatest level of cybersecurity capabilities and intent to act on those capabilities. It is the second iteration of the biennial report, which launched in 2020 to help guide discussion by governments, researchers and policymakers regarding the capabilities of various nations and the potential uses of cyber power.
Russia rose in the ranking since the 2020 report, a change that researchers said reflected that country's recently demonstrated ability and resolve to use its cyber capabilities, including in the war in Ukraine.
"The prospect of Russian cyberattacks either unintentionally spilling outside of the conflict zones, or being used as a targeted weapon against those that declared themselves to be Ukrainian allies sent the cyber community into overdrive," the report said.
Nations were ranked and indexed through analysis of eight criteria: wealth protection, controlling their information environment, defining international cyber norms, destroying adversaries' infrastructure, collecting foreign intelligence, competence in cyber technology, enhancement of cyber defenses and surveillance of domestic groups. An index formula was created to rank each nation, and interviews were conducted with experts to inform the ranking calculations.
Researchers cautioned against judging any downward movement between the 2020 and 2022 reports as indicative of a diminishment in a country's cyber power, noting that the assessment is limited by what information is available through public sources. The report also does not make value judgments about how nations choose to use their cyber power; it is designed to objectively consider a nation's ability to use cyber tools to achieve its goals.
"Policy decisions around what is responsible and in the best interests of nations, international conventions, and the world, should draw on this tool, and others, to make those judgments," wrote Eric Rosenbach, Belfer Center co-director and former chief of staff and assistant secretary for the U.S. Defense Department, in a note on the report's publication.
Cybersecurity is a top concern of many in government and industry. Security experts this year have pointed to potential repercussions from the war in Ukraine as a reason for U.S. businesses and organizations to be on high alert for potential cyberthreats. The Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies recently launched a $1 billion grant program to provide state, local and territorial governments funding to strengthen the cybersecurity capabilities of critical infrastructure.
More than half of IT decision-makers in asset management firms cited cybersecurity as a major concern in their organizations, according to a July survey sponsored by Rackspace Technology Inc. and conducted by Coleman Parkes Research. A majority of surveyed decision-makers said they were either unprepared or just somewhat prepared to respond to major threats.