Thailand leaps to 7th place in 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index
The achievement reflects country’s commitment to enhancing digital security, though further improvements are still needed, says the DES minister
Thailand made a huge jump to 7th position in the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) from the 44th world ranking it was given in 2020.
The new rank makes Thailand a “Tier 1” country or a role model in global cyber security practices.
This achievement was announced on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry and the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA).
The ranking, conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), gave Thailand a score of 99.22 in 2024, versus 86.5 in 2020 and 79.6 in 2018.
The evaluation covered five pillars – legal, technical, organisational, capacity development and cooperation measures – with 20 points allotted to each category. This year, Thailand received perfect scores in each category except for organisational measures, which scored 19.22.
Tier 1 countries obtained an overall GCI score of at least 95/100 by demonstrating a strong cybersecurity commitment to coordinated and government-driven actions that encompass evaluating, establishing and implementing certain generally accepted cybersecurity measures across all five pillars or up to all indicators.
DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong said the ministry’s digital economic and social policies have been focusing on three aspects: Boosting Thailand’s digital competitiveness, enhancing safety and security, and developing human capital in digital-related industries.
These policies are in line with the government’s master plan of establishing a digital government, said Prasert, who also doubles as deputy prime minister.
“The scores in this index reflect Thailand's commitment to developing and enhancing cybersecurity measures across various aspects. The improved ranking is a result of collaborative efforts among agencies from all sectors, working together to promote cybersecurity at the individual, organisational, sectoral, and national levels,” he said.
The minister added that the report also revealed areas where Thailand still needs to make further improvements, such as updating relevant laws and enhancing technical capabilities to address increasingly sophisticated threats.
Air Vice-Marshal Amorn Chomchoey, secretary-general of NCSA, said that since its establishment nearly five years ago, the agency has increased Thailand’s capacity in self-defence, preparedness for cyber threats to critical information infrastructure, and skills training as well as cybersecurity-related certification.
The NCSA also played a crucial role in improving the law to efficiently protect personal data from unauthorised access and sharing as well as to curb the spreading of fake news, he said.
“The NCSA has signed more than 34 MOUs with domestic and international agencies to initiate campaigns to raise awareness in cyber security, with a focus on online children protection,” he added.
