The vast majority of Maltese politicians’ websites lack adequate security, a new study has found.

Published by British technology research company Comparitech, the study found that 86 per cent of Maltese politicians’ website lacked basic HTTPS encryption, exposing anyone using the sites to privacy and security risks. A total of 7,600 websites of politicians in 37 countries were reviewed for the study.

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The study found that more than a third of Malta’s politicians had their own website. Of these, almost all of the websites by Labour Party politicians were found not to be secure (94.7 per cent) while 70 per cent of those from the Nationalist Party did not have adequate security measures.

Politicians have little excuse for not properly securing their sites

According to Comparitech, HTTPS encrypts data in transit so that unauthorised third parties cannot intercept and decipher it.

Read: Japan's cyber security minister admits he's never used a computer 

“Valid SSL certificates also authenticate websites, helping to ensure voters they are on the politician’s genuine site and not a fraudulent one. Obtaining an SSL certificate and implementing HTTPS is not difficult nor expensive, so politicians have little excuse for not properly securing their sites,” the researchers commented.

According to the study, Malta’s rate ranked among the bottom five of the countries reviewed, alongside those of politicians from South Korea, Poland, Hungary and Canada. At the other end of the scale, the politicians from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Denmark were less likely to have websites that were not secure.

Data for the study was collected in November, the researchers said, and while information was gathered from 72 countries, information from only 37 could be included because data from the remaining countries was not sufficient.

Many local politicians have yet to implement the HTTPS protocol on their websites.