Agencies work to understand online harm during lockdown
The full extent of malicious cyber activity during lockdown remains to be seen. Katie Kenny reports.
The number of cases referred to the Department of Internal Affairs by the United States’ National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children for investigation in New Zealand was up 100 per cent last month.
But links to the country’s lockdown period, which started on March 25, remain unclear.
The non-profit organisation helps locate missing children, and help those who are being physically or sexually abused.
An increase in online harm was expected as more New Zealanders, and in particular children, spent more time at home and online, said Paul Graham, director regulatory systems at the Department of Internal Affairs.
Unicef warned millions of children were at increased risk as their lives moved online during the coronavirus pandemic.
‘‘We have received a higher number of referrals during March (295) and April (392) from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children compared to the same period last year: March (249) and April (197),’’ Graham said.
‘‘However, this increase does not necessarily reflect the impact of Covid-19. We still need to analyse the referral trends over at least a six-month period to establish a
definite increase or decrease of Covid19-related referrals.’’
DIA was working with agencies such as Netsafe to understand the potential harms associated with the lockdown period, he said.
The Online Harm Prevention Group, initially established after the Christchurch terror attacks on March 15 last year, had been reconvened to help increase the reach of online safety messages and information.
The GCSB’s National Cyber Security Centre received regular reporting from international partners, which showed an increased level of malicious cyber activity internationally during the pandemic, a GCSB spokesperson said.
The NCSC had seen similar malicious activity in New Zealand, such as Covid-19-themed phishing campaigns.
‘‘It’s important that organisations and their staff adopt robust cybersecurity measures, particularly when more people are working remotely.’’
Netsafe saw more than double its usual traffic during the lockdown however the number of online harm reports, from revenge porn to child abuse, didn’t increase as much as expected, said chief executive Martin Cocker.
While scam reports had increased, fewer people than normal were falling for them and suffering financial loss, Cocker said. In particular, sextortion scams, where scammers pretend to have intimate recordings to blackmail recipients, were on the rise.
‘‘Internationally, people are saying their numbers are definitely up. There have been a lot of proactive safety campaigns in New Zealand, so I think maybe they’ve had a positive effect here,’’ he said.
The lockdown period started with below average reporting, with increases in all reports, including harmful digital communications reports in weeks three and four, Cocker said. The numbers levelled off again during week five.
Overall, harmful digital communications reporting (a better direct measure of harm, Cocker said) saw a 6 per cent increase during Covid-19 alert level 4, which was in place from March 25 to April 27. ‘‘Harm online isn’t down, but it isn’t hugely up, either. It has pretty much carried on at its pre-Covid rate.
‘‘Obviously behind each number is a person who has had a bad experience, or been harmed, so for them it’s no consolation.’’
Based on international reporting, police expected to see an increase in online harm in New Zealand, a spokeswoman said. It was working with other agencies to prevent that from happening.