Business and government leaders in the Middle East and North Africa are ahead of other parts of the world in setting cybersecurity as a priority, a new survey of information technology professionals indicates.

The survey, commissioned by Raytheon and titled “Global Megatrends in Cybersecurity 2015,” revealed that more than half of organizational leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region identify cybersecurity as a strategic priority, compared to only 23 percent in the US and 36 percent in U.K./Europe. Boards of directors in 35 percent of MENA organizations have been briefed on strategic cybersecurity issues in the last 12 months, as compared to 22 percent globally, the survey found.