Businesses losing big money to cybercriminals
The National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) latest Cyber Security Insights report shows New Zealand organisations lost almost half a million to cybercrime in the last three months of 2024.
From 1 October to 31 December 2024, financial loss reported by organisations to the NCSC was $463,000 – more than four times the $107,000 reported in Q3.
“The sharp increase in financial loss is due to a few incidents with large losses,” NCSC Threat and Incident Response team lead Tom Roberts said. “We are seeing cybercriminals target organisations with tried and tested methods, such as a phishing emails or phone calls, and gaining unauthorised access to their systems and business accounts.”
If an attacker gets access to your email account, they can target your customers or clients with fake invoices.
“This is called a business email compromise (BEC) and we have seen reports where it led to significant financial losses,” Roberts said. “It also results in reputational damage to the business involved.”
While financial losses have increased, the number of incidents reported by organisations decreased from 122 in Q3 to 89 in Q4 2024."We know cyber incidents are underreported and we encourage businesses in Aotearoa to reports all incidents to us,” Roberts said.
“When you report to us, we can respond to these attacks through our Phishing Disruption Service. We can also alert other New Zealand businesses and help protect them from similar attacks,” he said.
You can read the full Cyber Security Insights report for Q4 2024 here.(external link)