PORTUGAL has taken the crown as Europe’s most cyber safe country, according to new research, but the UK was named the eighth worst.

Cybersecurity company ESET analysed European countries on various factors, including their commitment to security and their exposure ranking, where a lower score indicated higher exposure.

They also looked at percentages for the discovery of malicious software on devices in the last three years, social network, or email accounts hacked in the same period, and the percentage of identity theft victims.

ESET’s research found Portugal scored highest for cyber safety with 8.21 out of 10, followed by Lithuania and Slovakia (7.99 and 7.21 respectively).

At the other end of the scale Romania ranked as the worst country in Europe for cybersecurity, with a score of 3.27 out of 10, as well as having the fewest pieces of cybercrime legislation in Europe –just two pieces of legislation.

Austria and France joined Romania in the bottom three with scores of 3.80 and 4.36 respectively.

Perhaps most notable though was the UK finishing outside the top 10, reaching only 16th place out of 24 with a score of 5.59.

The UK had the lowest exposure ranking in Europe, with a score of 5 – where a lower figure indicates a higher exposure, or how exposed a country is to cybercrime.

It also scored the highest for commitment to cybersecurity with a score of 0.931 (out of 1).

Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist for ESET, said: “No single measure – whether it’s the amount of legislation or the number of banking fraud victims – can tell the whole story when it comes to cybersecurity.

“Protecting citizens online is incredibly complicated, and there’s no one right way to do it.

“In practice, cyber safety can mean different things for different people, so this is not a case of ‘one size fits all’.

“Nonetheless, it’s important for nations to be aware of the actions taken across Europe and learn from one another wherever possible. A truly holistic approach to cybersecurity requires a breadth of knowledge about potential approaches, including how and when they work best.”

He said it was disappointing the UK had come so far down the European index, but was encouraged it had scored highly for commitment to cybersecurity.

Moore added: “With every new initiative, we become a step closer to a safer internet for everyone.

“Ultimately, cybersecurity works best when we work together, whether that’s between individual people or entire countries.

“As the internet is international, no one country can be responsible for cyber safety. Recent events have shown us that co-operation and collaboration are more important than ever.”

The full research can be seen here.