CERT NZ’s Quarter One Report 2019, which provides an overview of the cyber security incidents reported from 1 January – 31 March 2019, has been released recently.
According to a recent press release, latest data shows that Kiwis from all over the country continue to be affected by cyber security issues.
The report shows that almost 1,000 New Zealanders reported cyber security issues to CERT NZ in the three months to March 2019.
What is CERT NZ?
The CERT NZ Director explained that it does not mean that it is all bad news. According to him, helping people keep safe online and improving cyber security in New Zealand is at the core of what they do at the Agency.
Having a broad range of people reaching out and getting the help they need reinforces their role as a central front door to help people get back on their feet quickly following a cyber security incident.
CERT NZ is New Zealand’s Computer Emergency Response Team. It works to support businesses, organisations and individuals who are affected, or may be affected by cyber security incidents.
CERT NZ provides trusted and authoritative information and advice, while also collating a profile of the threat landscape in New Zealand.
Report Findings
For Quarter One, they worked with close to 1,000 Kiwis, from Invercargill to the Bay of Islands, to help them recover from cyber security incidents and build their resilience to new and evolving cyber security threats.
The focus for 2019 is to build on that resilience even further.
In the first quarter for 2019, CERT NZ received the highest number of unauthorised access reports for a three month period to date.
The most common account types that attackers gained access to were cloud services and email accounts.
CERT NZ received 96 reports of unauthorised access between January to March of 2019, with reports of both business and personal email accounts being compromised.
It is easy to trust email and other online accounts, assuming that a password will be enough to keep people protected.
However, attackers rely on this trust and exploit it to gain access to personal and corporate accounts. In many cases this can result in the loss of personal information and more.
Unauthorised access can be costly. New Zealanders reported a total of NZ$ 1.7 million in financial losses to CERT NZ this quarter, with NZ$ 329,000 attributed to unauthorised access incidents.
One simple step people can take to protect their online accounts is to set-up two-factor authentication (2FA).
Adding 2FA to the login process is a simple way of adding an extra layer of security to the accounts.
OpenGov Asia has earlier reported on CERT NZ releases cybersecurity report for Q4 2018.
It detailed how New Zealanders are still losing staggering amounts of money despite ongoing efforts to raise awareness about online scams and fraud.