A Comparative Study of National Cyber Security Strategies of ten nations

TL;DR

This paper compares the cybersecurity strategies of ten nations across different regions, highlighting common themes, disparities, and providing recommendations for developing effective national cybersecurity policies.

Contribution

It offers a comparative analysis of NCSSs from ten countries, identifying commonalities, disparities, and proposing guidelines for strategy development.

Findings

Shared focus on protecting critical assets

Emphasis on international cooperation

Disparities due to lack of unified framework

Abstract

This study compares the National Cybersecurity Strategies (NCSSs) of publicly available documents of ten nations across Europe (United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Estonia, Spain, and Norway), Asia-Pacific (Singapore and Australia), and the American region (the United States of America and Canada). The study observed that there is not a unified understanding of the term "Cybersecurity"; however, a common trajectory of the NCSSs shows that the fight against cybercrime is a joint effort among various stakeholders, hence the need for strong international cooperation. Using a comparative structure and an NCSS framework, the research finds similarities in protecting critical assets, commitment to research and development, and improved national and international collaboration. The study finds that the lack of a unified underlying cybersecurity framework leads to a disparity in the structure and contents of the strategies. The strengths and weaknesses of the NCSSs from the research can benefit countries planning to develop or update their cybersecurity strategies. The study gives recommendations that strategy developers can consider when developing an NCSS.