North Macedonia jumps to 30th place on global cyber security index

North Macedonia made a large leap in this year’s National Cyber Security Index (NCSI), moving from 59th place with 58.44 points in 2023 to 30th place with 84.17 points as of the latest ranking published on August 12, 2026. The NCSI evaluates countries’ readiness to prevent cyber threats and to manage cyber incidents by measuring government policies, institutions and cooperative frameworks.

The jump reflects measurable improvements across the index’s strategic, preventive and responsive indicators. Authorities attribute the rise in part to recent policy and organisational changes after a multi-year absence of a comprehensive national cyber framework.

Policy and incidents that shaped the response

After a three‑year gap without an overarching framework, the Government adopted the National Cybersecurity Strategy 2025–2028 in January 2025. The document sets out prioritized actions to strengthen resilience across public services and critical infrastructure, a response driven in part by a string of high‑profile incidents: the 2022 attack on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, the 2023 attack on the Health Insurance Fund, and later intrusions affecting MEPSO, which exposed vulnerabilities in energy, finance, water and health sectors.

Stefan Andonovski, the Minister of Digital Transformation, has argued the new strategy requires investments in shared infrastructure such as a National Data Center. "There will be no need for separate purchases of equipment for different institutions, because each institution will be able to connect to that system and securely store and keep the data there. Second, services for citizens will be created in one place – the so‑called cloud first policy, that is, a policy of keeping data in a single cloud protected in the National Data Center. Third is cyber security — we will be able in one place, one institution, to protect all systems," the minister said.

The strategy lists five priority areas: building national management structures (including a dedicated cyber sector and CSIRT teams); ensuring the security and resilience of critical infrastructure through risk management and public‑private cooperation; improving awareness and education on cyber threats; minimising the impact of incidents through timely identification, coordinated response and crisis management; and strengthening national and international cooperation with NATO, the EU and other partners.

The rankings also place North Macedonia ahead of several regional peers. Albania and the Czech Republic top the index with 98.33 points each; Canada and Estonia follow with 96.67; Finland 95.83; Lithuania 95; Moldova and Belgium 94.17; Jordan and Hungary 93.33. In the Balkans, Romania is 11th with 92.50, Slovenia 16th with 89.17 and Greece 25th with 85. North Macedonia ranks above Croatia (35th, 82.50), Bulgaria and Serbia (tied 39th–40th with 80.83) and Montenegro (48th, 78.33).

Photo: press material from the event