When looking for victims, cybercriminals focus on urban internet users.
A NordVPN study has found that countries where cyber risk is considered high or very high have no less than 80% of the population living in cities.
“Urban residents are more likely to enjoy higher average monthly wages and an advanced technological infrastructure,” says Daniel Markson, digital privacy expert at NordVPN. “This makes them a more attractive bait that is also easy to access.
“That’s why Northern Europe, which has the highest average monthly wage and more than 90% of internet penetration, is the most dangerous place in the world to be online. North America isn’t far behind.”
In both regions, more than nine out of 10 people use the internet, eight out of 10 shop online, and seven out of 10 use Facebook. This leads to increased exposure to cyber threats.
NordVPN’s Cyber Risk Index, developed together with Statista, covers 50 countries comprising 70% of the world’s population.
| Country | Urban population (% of total population), 2018 | Cyber
risk index |
Index rank |
| Iceland | 93.8 | 0.839 | 1 |
| Sweden | 87.4 | 0.809 | 2 |
| United Arab Emirates | 86.5 | 0.774 | 3 |
| Norway | 82.3 | 0.729 | 4 |
| United States | 82.3 | 0.713 | 5 |
| Singapore | 100 | 0.67 | 6 |
| Ireland | 63.2 | 0.664 | 7 |
| New Zealand | 86.5 | 0.66 | 8 |
| Denmark | 87.9 | 0.657 | 9 |
| United Kingdom | 83.4 | 0.647 | 10 |
| Israel | 92.4 | 0.646 | 11 |
| Finland | 85.4 | 0.641 | 12 |
| Chile | 87.6 | 0.621 | 13 |
| Belgium | 98 | 0.621 | 13 |
| Canada | 81.4 | 0.621 | 13 |
| Australia | 86 | 0.62 | 16 |
| Netherlands | 91.5 | 0.617 | 17 |
| Argentina | 91.9 | 0.601 | 18 |
Countries with very high to high cyber risk indexes, 2020.
Exceptions to the rule
Not all urbanised countries are at a higher risk, however — the trend has two exceptions. Ireland’s urban population is at least 18% lower than that of other countries’ on the list (63%), but the level of cyber risk is still high. The country ranks seventh on the most dangerous list.
Another paradox is Japan, which falls under moderate cyber risk but has an extremely high density of urbanization (91,6%).
Risk does not correlate with losses
What the study doesn’t show is the losses associated with the cybercrimes in question.
According to research by J Clement published on 27 May 2020, the global financial losses to cybercrime experienced by consumers on average in 2017 lined up as follows: the Chinese lost the most ($66.33), followed by Brazil ($22.5), the US ($19.4) and India ($18.5).
“Despite being targeted by hackers the most, countries with the highest population density in urban areas are not likely to lose more money than those where most citizens live in remote areas,” says Markuson.
A study by the British Home Office Science Advisory Council found that women, parents, the economically disadvantaged, and those living in rural locations were statistically significantly more likely to fear cybercrime, which means that unmarried men fear cybercrime less and are more likely to fall victim to it. The study mentions that the same trends apply to the rest of Europe.
What poses more cyber risk to countries?
NordVPN trimmed the data down to the 14 most significant factors. The factors were then used to create the Index, and 50 countries were ranked by the cyber risk they’re facing.
| No | Factor | No | Factor | |
| 1 | Urban population | 8 | Online games penetration | |
| 2 | Monthly average wage | 9 | VoD penetration | |
| 3 | Tourism | 10 | Public Wi-Fi availability | |
| 4 | Internet penetration | 11 | Facebook penetration | |
| 5 | Smartphone penetration | 12 | Instagram penetration | |
| 6 | Time spent on the internet | 13 | Crime Index | |
| 7 | E-commerce penetration | 14 | Global Cybersecurity Index |