Hundreds of NZ businesses now losing money to cyber-criminals
Wellington - Hundreds of New Zealand businesses are now losing money to cyber-criminals, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller said at the New Zealand cyber-security summit in Wellington today.
In the third quarter of last year, 281 Kiwis business reported cyber security breaches and many others are likely to have suffered the same fate, without reporting it, Muller said.
The summit is the largest gathering of cyber professionals in New Zealand, working together to protect Kiwi businesses and organisations.
The average direct financial loss for small to medium business is still small, only a few thousand dollars, so, it often goes unreported.
“However, we know at least 13 Kiwi businesses lost more than $100,000 each near the end of last year. The most common crime involved is the unauthorised transfer of money, after a company’s email accounts was compromised.
“The criminals use phishing attacks to harvest credentials – looks like a real email and gets you to click on a link. This drops a piece of code onto the computer that looks for login and password details which it sends back to the criminal and you’re not even aware of it.
“Other common scams which resulted in businesses losing money included new business opportunity emails, fake investment opportunities and fake prizes.
“Then there are the hidden costs. A study by the UK government found that 56 percent of small businesses that suffer a breach, are victims of further attacks.
“They also found that 66 percent of businesses attacked make no substantial changes to prevent future attacks. We are inherently complacent. With criminals often only taking small amounts the individual cost feels small, whereas the collective economic cost is huge.
“Business also don’t take into account risk of reputational damage if data is stolen and the public finds out about it, also costs of fixing computer systems that get damaged by hackers.”
Muller said it is estimated about 80 percent of cybercrimes could be prevented. He advises people to use and update complex passwords and use password safes. Make sure you install updates as they are provided by the tech firms.
For further information contact NZTech’s media specialist, Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.