New research shows Aotearoa is upping their online security game.

New Zealanders agree it’s important to protect themselves online

New research* shows 53% of New Zealanders took on one or more new online security behaviours in the past six months, compared to 49% the previous year. 

The large majority of people (93%) believe it’s their own responsibility to protect themselves online with 71% saying they were very or quite confident with online security in their everyday lives.

Read the latest Cyber Security Behaviour Report (external link)

‘We know people’s lives are increasingly online these days so it’s encouraging to see more New Zealanders taking responsibility for their own online security.” Michael Jagusch, Director Mission Enablement, NCSC, said.    

However, we still have work to do. The research found barriers such as apathy (‘can't be bothered’) or complacency (‘I feel I am doing enough to protect myself’) were consistent themes as to why people are not reporting online incidents or taking specific online security actions. 

You are not alone

If you have experienced a cyber security incident recently, you’re not the only one. More than half (54%) the country experienced one in the last six months with 830,000 experiencing some financial loss.

“We want people to be confident online, and these attacks can undermine that and hinder us from engaging more online, so we need to change from apathy to action.”

“The more we can do now by taking small actions such as long, strong unique passwords and turning on two-factor authentication (2FA), helps better protect ourselves from when an attack happens.”

While the awareness of online threats held fairly stable from last year, the financial loss is staggering at an estimated $1.6 billion.

“We know that direct financial loss is only one of the many effects of online attacks. These incidents also lead to loss of time, increased stress and impacts on mental wellbeing” says Jagusch.  

“Online threats are only becoming more advanced and pervasive, so we need to start embedding these simple actions like 2FA into our everyday and make online security as much of a priority as we do our physical security for our homes or cars” says Jagusch.

* The annual online survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,006 New Zealanders, aged 18 years and over, between November - December 2024.