- All leading digital security countries are based in Europe
- The UK has lost ground in cybersecurity
- Surfshark says advances in AI are essential
Do you think your data is equally safe, regardless of your country? Then you might want to rethink it, now that Europe is definitely at the forefront of digital security and the UK is losing ground.
The data comes from Surshark, which recently released its 2025 Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index. The creator of one of the best VPNs examined 121 countries, using sources including open source data from the United Nations and the World Bank to evaluate five pillars: Internet quality, Internet affordability, digital security, digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence.
While it is good to see European countries leading in digital security, the findings show that the UK is lagging behind, as these nations have improved even more significantly, and the gap could deepen even further over the next year. If you’re looking to strengthen your level of protection, Surfshark’s Black Friday VPN deal can help you prepare for the fallout.
Where are you safest online?
In the Index, digital security is defined as the level of security that people experience online, reflecting a country’s preparedness to combat cybercrime and its commitment to protecting privacy online. The results reveal that all the countries that top the digital security ranking are in Europe.
Even better, Estonia, Germany, France and Finland also feature in the top 10 countries leading the ranking in terms of digital sovereignty, with Finland in first place for maintaining the best quality of digital life in the world.
“Finland, like many other European countries, uses the GDPR, which offers the highest level of data protection,” Emilija Kucinskaite, principal researcher at Surfshark, tells TechRadar.
However, the UK has a completely different story. While it also scored highly on data protection, its cybersecurity pillar ranked 39th globally, suggesting significant gaps and revealing signs of a sharp decline from 2024, when its cybersecurity capabilities ranked sixth.
The UK has also lost ground on the global DQL index, now ranking 18th, behind countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and South Korea.
Although the sharp change may seem alarming, Kucinskaite says the data needs to be put into context and that the UK is improving across the board, but not at the same pace as other countries that have made more significant progress.
However, Kucinskaite warns that if the UK’s pace of improvement lags behind other nations, its scores could fall further next year.
From a global perspective, it is interesting to note that Europe shows the smallest disparity in digital security scores: the highest-ranked country, Czechia, scores 2.5 times higher than Belarus, which is at the bottom of the regional ranking.
Meanwhile, Asia experiences the largest disparity in digital security: the first-place country (South Korea) scores 23 times higher than the last-place country (Yemen).
The AI factor
While the UK may struggle to keep up with other countries’ faster digital progress, data shows that the UK is advancing rapidly in the field of AI, ranking fourth.
As a leader in AI, the UK is an attractive destination for investment in the sector and is demonstrating its willingness to integrate AI into public services, which also means further strengthening its cybersecurity capabilities.
Furthermore, Kucinskaite notes that the UK offers a particularly advantageous combination in digital security, being at the forefront of AI while also offering the highest level of data protection, suggesting good resilience against potential cyber threats.
“However, as many countries increase their investment in AI, the UK must maintain its current competitive position,” Kucinskaite stresses.
As expected, the United States is positioned as a world leader in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence development, followed by Singapore and South Korea. Here, AI is where Europe falls alarmingly behind.
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