Lithuania ranks fourth on the draft Global Cybersecurity Index 2018 published by the United Nations, the Defense Ministry said LETA/BNS on Monday.

"Over the past four years, (Lithuania) has strengthened its cyber capabilities and crime prevention (and) has been developing public-private partnerships and international initiatives, as well as paying great attention to innovation development," Deputy Defense Minister Edvinas Kerza said.





This is Lithuania's highest-ever position in the international cybersecurity environment ranking. By comparison, it ranked 57th in 2017.





The latest ranking is topped by the United Kingdom, the United States and France.

Estonia also made it to the top ten list, at number five, followed by Spain, Malaysia, Norway and Canada (both in ninth position), and Australia.





Latvia is placed 47th and Poland is ranked 31st.





"We are on the right track both in the national and global environments and often serve as an example to other nations with much larger capabilities," Kerza said.





According to the press release, the biggest boost to Lithuania came from last year's systematic implementation of its cyber-security policy. The country adopted a national cybersecurity strategy and completed the consolidation of the state's cyber capabilities.





Lithuania's decision to create a secure public data transmission network linking together institutions that ensure the state's vital functions also helped the country climb up the global ranking. The network will help ensure data security and reliability of communications in critical situations such as large-scale cyber-attacks, natural disasters, etc.





In 2018, Lithuania also took leadership in stepping up cybersecurity internationally. The country continues to lead a EU initiative to create a cyber rapid response force, the ministry said.