Slovakia just below the elite

Slovakia is at level T2 with a score of 94,3 points, and it was short of T1 (95–100) by only 0,56 points; the T2 band covers the range of 85–95 points. Compared with the EU average, we excel in capacity building and cooperation, while legislation is generally strong across Europe, including transpositions and commitments such as the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. Within the V4 countries, we are among the leaders; the Czech Republic lags slightly in technical measures. Slovakia is also the only one of this quartet to have achieved the full 20 points in as many as three categories.

Interesting points in the ranking and what to improve

The new grouping into levels also raised questions: for example, Germany ended up in T1 even though it had fewer points in total than Slovakia. The ITU signaled a retroactive review, but without concrete conclusions. In T1 we find established leaders such as Estonia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Singapore, but also less expected names like Oman, Tanzania, Turkey, and Morocco.

For Slovakia, education and awareness are key challenges: training for teachers and basic cyber hygiene in primary and secondary schools. Another area is promoting public–private partnerships (PPP), where we also run into ambiguities in definitions. Progress in these areas may well determine whether we move up to T1 in the next edition.