Ireland is best at fending off cybercrime in Europe, report finds
A new report suggests that Ireland is the least susceptible to cybercrime in Europe, while the Netherlands is on the other end of the scale.
When it comes to cyberattacks, Ireland appears to be fighting off much of what is thrown at it. According to a report released by password manager provider Specops Software, Ireland is the least vulnerable country in Europe to cybercrime.
The report’s metric was based on analysing the percentage of cloud provider attacks on Microsoft Azure and the monthly percentage of machines that encountered cryptocurrency mining, malware and ransomware.
Out of the 32 European countries examined, Ireland was found to have the lowest cybercrime encounter rate in every metric – except cloud provider attacks, where 0.36pc of Azure accounts reported facing incoming attacks.
The UK and Ireland are also among the countries with the lowest encounters of ransomware attacks and cryptocurrency mining.
On the other end of the scale, the Netherlands has been ranked most vulnerable to cybercrime on the continent. This was due in large part to having the highest number of cloud provider attacks, with data showing 16.28pc of Azure accounts there have faced breaches. In total, 17.64pc of machines in the Netherlands experienced cloud provider attacks, cryptocurrency mining, and malware and ransomware encounters.
Bad news for Belarus
Followed closely behind the Netherlands was Bulgaria (17.55pc), followed at a distance by Belarus (10.83pc) and Ukraine (1035pc).
Looking specifically at cryptocurrency mining, Belarus had the highest number of encounters, with 0.42pc of machines recording the issue. By comparison, crytominers were found on just 0.01pc of machines in Ireland.
Belarus, again, ranked high on the list when it came to malware, with 10.17pc of all machines encountering it each month on average. According to the report, the rate in Ireland was just 0.7pc.
Ransomware appears to be less common in Europe, with the most susceptible nation – Ukraine – recording it in just 0.09pc of cases. Ireland and several other nations recorded a rate of 0.01pc.
A separate report found that almost half (44pc) of cybersecurity threats are happening in the cloud, where most enterprise users are active.