Jordan leaps upward in Global Cybersecurity Index ranking

AMMAN — According to the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) for 2018, Jordan has moved up 18 spots on the global ranking and two spots on the regional ranking.

Globally, Jordan moved up from 92nd place to 74th and from 10th place to 8th place among Arab countries, according to the report, which was conducted by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to review the cybersecurity commitment of each UN member state.

The Kingdom has witnessed remarkable improvement in cybersecurity development according to the GCI, almost doubling its score from 2017 to 2018, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship has said that the improvement in the Kingdom's performance was achieved by the joint efforts of the ministry, the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army, security bodies, the Central Bank of Jordan and the private sector. 

The report, which was released earlier this month, aims at raising awareness of cyber-related issues and sharing best security practices by measuring each participating country’s preparedness to prevent cyber threats and manage and control cyber incidents.  

The GCI evaluates each country’s cybersecurity on the basis of five pillars: legal, technical, organisational, capacity building and cooperation.

Jordan's cyber environment is mature, the report indicated, as a result of the Kingdom’s National Cybersecurity Strategy and National Computer Emergency Response Team (JO-CERT), along with its operating fibre-optic network. 

The government has conducted several technical activities related to protecting citizens’ cybersecurity, including providing the National Broadband Network (optical fibre connection between all government entities) with an additional layer of security, according to the ITU website. 

In addition, to manage and harmonise approaches to cyber risks and threats among all government entities, the government established JO-CERT. 

Jordan has also conducted national electronic authentication projects by adopting a public key infrastructure solution, the report added — a project that includes a smart ID project to replace traditional IDs with smart identification cards.