NZ businesses hit hard by scams in 2023 – CERT NZ
CERT NZ’s 2023 annual summary, released today, shows the amount businesses and organisations reportedly lost to Scams and Fraud, nearly doubled – rising from $956k in 2022 to $1.9m in 2023.
Incidents in the Scams and Fraud category accounted for the biggest share of monetary loss for businesses in 2023.
“This tells us that scams continue to be a growing threat in Aotearoa’s cyber landscape, one that we need to grow more resilient to,” CERT NZ Director Rob Pope says.
Reports of Scams and Fraud include cases of unauthorised money transfer, incidents where organisations were asked to pay money upfront as well as extortion and blackmail scams. The $1.9M lost to these scams was a 95% increase on the previous year.
CERT NZ received a total of 492 reports of incidents affecting organisations in 2023. More than half of these were incidents of Phishing and Credential Harvesting.
Other common categories affecting businesses include Unauthorised Access, Website Compromise, Ransomware and Malware. The total financial loss faced by companies across all categories went up 30% from $1.8 M in 2022 to $2.3 M in the same period.
CERT NZ also released its latest quarterly report (October – December 2023). Of the total of the 1,881 incidents reported to CERT NZ in this quarter, 128 (7%) of affected organisations.
CERT NZ is aware of significant underreporting of cybercrime. “Reporting helps us understand malicious actors and their methods better. When you report an incident, it goes a long way in helping other New Zealand businesses stay safe from similar attacks,” Rob Pope says.
As scams grow more sophisticated, it is becoming increasingly important to guard against them. CERT NZ’s website Own Your Online has resources to help protect your business against common threats.
Common risks and threats for businesses
Learn how phishing scams can affect your business
Top online security tips for your business
Read the full reports
CERT NZ Cyber Security Insights Q4 2023
Get help now
If you or your business has been affected by an online incident or targeted by a scammer, we’re here to help.