Belgian employers can offer their employees teleworking with peace of mind. The number of compromised computers and malicious websites is much lower in Belgium than in many other European countries.

Hybrid working has become the norm in many companies since the Corona pandemic. However, employers are not always confident that their employees are following cybersecurity protocols equally closely at home, outside of the controlled environment of the office building. But employers in Belgium can rest easy, according to a study by Indusface, a security company specializing in web applications.

The company began searching for the safest country to telecommute. The following parameters were taken into account: number of DDoS attacks, number of phishing sites, number of websites hosting malware and number of compromised computers, calculated on a scale per hundred thousand Internet users. Then each country gets a score of 100.

Prime of Europe

Indusface gives Belgium an overall score of 82.45. Our country is among the leaders in Europe, sharing first place with Finland. In Belgium, the number of malicious phishing and malware websites seems to be significantly lower than in other European countries. The number of compromised computers is also very low at only 11 per 100,000 Internet users. Only DDoS attacks seem to occur more frequently in a country comparison.

In a global comparison, Belgium also performs very well in ninth place. Surprising world champion is Honduras with a total score of 89.55. South Korea and Japan are also safe countries for teleworking. In Europe, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden complete the top 5.

Don’t move to Bulgaria

Of course, not every country is equally well cared for. Indusface recommends moving to Bulgaria after your retirement at the earliest. With a value of 51.55, the Eastern European country only just got through in the index, making it the worst student in Europe. Serbia, Lithuania, Romania and Croatia are other European countries where teleworkers are at increased risk of cyberattacks.

Hybrid working will not disappear anytime soon. The study therefore concludes with the six basic rules for safe telework:

1. Integrated multi-layer authentication
2. Keep your systems up to date
3. Address internal IT risks as quickly as possible
4. Create strong passwords and don’t reuse them
5. Only save and upload files in a safe environment
6. Secure your web applications.

The Indusface Index is not to be confused with the ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index, which takes into account a country’s national cybersecurity infrastructure. With this ranking, Belgium is 19th in the world and 12th in Europe.