"Cyber Readiness Index 2.0" A Plan for Cyber Readiness: A Baseline and an Index

November 30, 2015

Authors: Melissa Hathaway, Senior Advisor, Cyber Security Project, Chris Demchak, Jason Kerban,Jennifer McArdle, Francesca Spidalieri

The Cyber Readiness Index 2.0 is expanded from theCyber Readiness Index 1.0, published November 2013.

Today, no country is cyber ready.

It is a given that global economic growth is increasingly dependent upon the rapid adoption of information communication technology (ICT) and connecting society to the Internet. Indeed, each country's digital agenda promises to stimulate economic growth, increase efficiency, improve service delivery and capacity, drive innovation and productivity gains, and promote good governance. Yet, the availability, integrity, and resilience of this core infrastructure are in harm's way. The volume, scope, velocity, and sophistication of threats to our networked systems and infrastructures are real and growing. Data breaches, criminal activity, service disruptions, and property destruction are becoming commonplace and threaten the Internet economy.

Global leaders understand that increased Internet connectivity leads to economic growth only if the underlying infrastructure and the devices connected to it are safe and secure. Therefore, countries must align their national economic visions with their national security priorities.

Until now, however, there has not been a comprehensive, comparative, experiential methodology to evaluate a country's maturity and commitment to securing its national cyber infrastructure and services upon which its digital future and growth depend. The Cyber Readiness Index (CRI) 1.01 represented a new way of examining the problem and was designed to spark international discussion and inspire global action to address the economic erosion caused by cyber insecurity.

Building on CRI 1.0, Cyber Readiness Index 2.0 examines one hundred twenty-five countries that have embraced, or are starting to embrace, ICT and the Internet and then applies an objective methodology to evaluate each country's maturity and commitment to cyber security across seven essential elements....

The full paper may be downloaded below.

1The Cyber Readiness Index 2.0 builds on the previous Cyber Readiness Index 1.0, which provided a methodological framework for assessing cyber readiness across five essential elements, namely: cyber national strategy, incident response, e-crime and legal capacity, information sharing, and cyber research and development. The Cyber Readiness Index 1.0 applied this methodology to an initial set of thirty-five countries. For more information on Cyber Readiness Index 1.0, see: Melissa Hathaway, "Cyber Readiness Index 1.0," Hathaway Global Strategies LLC (2013), http:// belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/ cyber-readiness-index-1point0.pdf.

Full Text of "Cyber Readiness Index 2.0" (1011K PDF)