According to data published at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum in Geneva, only Singapore, the U.S., Malaysia and Oman ranked higher than Estonia, spokespeople for the e-Governance Academy said.

Of Estonia's neighbors, Latvia ranked 21st and Lithuania 57th, while the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland and Sweden ranked 11th, 16th and 17th, respectively. The ranking included 195 countries.

According to Rauk Rikk, cyber security expert at the e-Governance Academy, the index's methodology is basically the same as that which has been used since 2014, and is based on five categories: legal measures, technical measures, organizational measures, capacity building and cooperation. ​​​​​This year's ranking includes 25 indicators, an increase from the 17 previously used.

One negative aspect, Rikk noted, is that no proof was presented when compiling the index, and so it is impossible to know whether the answers are true or not. Also, the information used to compile the index was collected from January to September 2016, and the situation in many countries has changed meanwhile.

Estonia's e-Governance Academy is trying to solve such shortcomings with its own National Cyber Security Index, which illustrates countries' situations through 12 main indicators and 60 subindicators. Each positive answer will also include relevant evidence. This index, which is constantly being updated, can be seen here.

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The full 2017 GCI report can be read here (link to PDF).