Cyber Maturity in the Asia-Pacific Region (2014)

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre has developed a Maturity Metric which provides an assessment of the regional cyber landscape. This measurement encompasses an evaluation of whole-of-government policy and legislative structures, military organisation, business and digital economic strength and levels of cyber social awareness.

This report analyses the ‘cyber maturity’ of 14 countries across the Asia–Pacific region, which represent a wide geographical and economic cross-section of the region.
Australia’s closest allies, the United States and the United Kingdom, have been included to provide an additional benchmark for overall national cyber maturity. ‘Maturity’ in this context is exhibited by the presence, effective implementation and operation of cyber-related structures, policies, legislation and organisations. These cyber indicators cover whole-of-government policy and legislative structures, military organisation, business and digital economic strength and levels of cyber social awareness. The research base underpinning each of these indicator groups has been collated exclusively from information in the public domain and as such this report’s conclusions are based solely on open-source material.

The report is the inaugural edition of what will be an annual report examining cyber maturity trends across the Asia–Pacific region. In future iterations, this report will seek to assess the maturity of an expanded range of countries and deepen the dialogue surrounding the best means to achieve this assessment.