Compare cybersecurity risks in the U.S. and another country.
Before discussing how cybersecurity risks differ between countries, we should consider how safe countries are regarding cyber threats. In the Cybersecurity Exposure Index, the top country that had the most cybersecure infrastructure and legislation was Denmark with an index of 8.91. Germany came in second, with the United States at third. Worldwide, the most common cybercrime is Phishing and/or pharming. This refers to the fraudulent practice of luring people into revealing personal information. Here in the United States, this accounted for 32.9% of all reported cybercrime in 2020. This can include the exploitation of passwords, login information, credit card numbers, and other sensitive data. The next most common type of cybercrime was just non-payment and non-delivery from fraudulent companies and buyers alike. As this cybercrime was reported over 100,000 times in the United States alone, we comparatively see how it made up 14.9% of cybercrimes in 2020. Now although Denmark was at the top of the list, they are not impermeable to cybersecurity attacks. In 2020, phishing was also their most common attack with it making up 79% of their attacks. Non-payment refers to a buyer not paying for goods and services that have been received, and non-delivery refers to fraudulent companies not delivering goods that have been paid for. Third most common is extortion, which has over 76,000 reported incidents in 2020 in the United States. This statistic reflected 10.4% of all reported cybercrime in the country while similarly making up 18% of Denmarkâs reported cybercrimes in 2020. As extortion can be found in various forms, the most common type is found to be ransomware. Ransomware is used after gaining access to computer systems, leaving a demand for some type of monetary value to give the owner their access back.