Stockholm is one of the world's safest cities according to a new ranking. But its move towards becoming a smart city could potentially leave it vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The 2017 Safe Cities Index ranks 60 cities across 49 indicators covering aspects of security in four domains: digital, health, infrastructure and personal security.

Stockholm – the only Swedish city assessed – placed eighth in the ranking topped by Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka. It was joined in the top-ten by two other European countries (Amsterdam in sixth and Zurich in tenth) and Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong.

The Swedish capital performed the best in the infrastructure sub-category (fourth place), followed by personal security (ninth), health (tenth) and digital security (13th place).

"Stockholm's infrastructure is very sound, but it is not in the top-ten on cyber security and people might be very concerned that it ranks lower than expected on health," Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and one of the experts interviewed for the report, told The Local.

Home to many successful tech and IT startups, such as Spotify, iZettle and Klarna, Stockholm has made a name for itself as a rising star on the digital scene, with plans to become a so-called "smart city" and more and more of its financial transactions carried out digitally in the move towards a "cashless society".

But the Safe Cities Index stresses the need for cities to improve their digital security at the same pace as they develop smart solutions for citizens. This message perhaps hits close to home for Sweden, where several transport agencies were targeted in a cyber attack this week, causing website crashes and train delays.

"It's precisely those cities that are trying to be smart that are vulnerable to attacks," said Smith.

"But it makes sense that the less cash you have in circulation the less cash is going to be stolen from our pockets, and the more transactions we do online the more is going to be stolen online – that's criminal logic. So you can't just be smart, as the study argues you have to be double smart."

In terms of personal security, Stockholm is number nine in the global list (which is topped by Singapore, Wellington and Osaka) and the top country in Europe ahead of Amsterdam. At the bottom is Karachi, with Athens being the least safe city in the European Union in the sub-category (41th place).

Based on: www.thelocal.se
Photo: Lola Akinmade Akerstroem/imagebank.sweden.se