Combining independent data from the United Nations, World Economic Forum, Transparency International and several other leading privacy groups, the report titled "Data Danger Zones" ranks over 170 nations on their abilities to keep digital information safe, private and secure.

Globally, the benchmark identified Switzerland as the safest nation for data storage, receiving a “potential risk score” of only 1.6%. Singapore was ranked as the the safest Asian nation, with a risk score of 1.9% as a result of the island state’s independent privacy legislation and political stability.

Hong Kong (5th place), Taiwan (6th place) and South Korea (15th place) also join Singapore in the top 15 safest nations globally, ahead of the United Kingdom and the United States of America which ranked 23rd and 38th respectively.

Despite Asia’s growing role as a market for data storage, the new benchmark suggests that it is falling behind other regions when it comes to data security and privacy. While only a few IT managers have chosen to store data in Afghanistan or Yemen, rapidly expanding data center markets such as China did not even qualify for the top 50 safest nations.

More surprisingly, India, one of Asia’s key technology hubs and home to the largest data center in the world, ranked only 107th on the list, falling below Russia and Turkey.

Commenting on the new study, data privacy expert Mateo Meier said: “It’s very easy for businesses and individuals to forget the importance of physical location when selecting a cloud hosting service or data hosting provider.

“Especially in today’s volatile world, businesses need to not only consider data privacy regulations, but also take into account other risk factors such as political environments, geographic locations and physical infrastructure.

“In support of this point, the Data Danger Zones report examines over 3.5 trillion IP addresses in 170 assessing countries, providing one of the most comprehensive guides ever created for data safety. Through this analysis, we want businesses to be able to make a more informed decision of how and where to store their data, and have a better understanding whether or not it is truly safe.”

Telecomasia.net