This question resulted in the definition of the Belfer National Cyber Power Index (NCPI) that measures 30 countries cyber capabilities in the context of 7 national objectives that countries pursue using cyber means. These 7 objectives are:
1. Surveilling and Monitoring Domestic Groups;
2. Strengthening and Enhancing National Cyber Defenses;
3. Controlling and Manipulating the Information Environment;
4. Foreign Intelligence Collection for National Security;
5. Commercial Gain or Enhancing Domestic Industry Growth;
6. Destroying or Disabling an Adversary’s Infrastructure and Capabilities;
7. Defining International Cyber Norms and Technical Standards.
It is worth noticing that in contrast to the broadly held view that cyber power means destroying or disabling an adversary’s infrastructure (usually referred to as offensive cyber operations), offense is only one of these seven objectives a country may pursue using cyber means.
The NCPI builds on existing databases that measure specific elements of cyber power and merges this data with multiple indicators that were sourced in-house.
This is the final ranking on page 11 of the report, with the US and China still competing for world leadership:
