Cyberattacks cost average of $19,000

AUCKLAND: Financial losses as a result of cyberattacks averaged $19,000 for smaller New Zealand businesses, according to a survey by security software firm Symantec, almost three times the losses for Australian firms.

The survey of 525 business owners and operators of firms employing up to 20 people found email and phishing scams were by far the most common and 70% said they had been subject to such attacks.

A further 47% said they had been subjected to hacking attacks.

Norton by Symantec Pacific Territory manager Mark Gorrie said ransomware operations were becoming more sophisticated.

There were reports some even used help desks to assist with payments after firms were locked out of their own computers.

The encryption used was also becoming harder to break.

About 5% of business owners said they had been affected by a ransomware attack and 13% of those had paid a ransom to get back access to their data, with an average payment of $1340. While all of them did manage to get their data back, in Australia 8% of those who paid never got it back, Mr Gorrie said.

The average financial loss for small Australian firms surveyed was $A6600 (NZ$7194).

The survey found small businesses said 27% of staff had access to their firm’s financial data via a cellphone, while 36% could access it through a home computer.

The biggest impact of attacks was in the time wasted, with 45% citing downtime and 41% inconvenience.

Privacy breaches were cited by 16% of those in the survey while 15% suffered financial loss and 12% lost data.

The survey found that 70% of firms used internet security, while 18% did not and 12% did not know if they did.

Data recovery scored lower, with just 31% having systems in place to automatically back up data, while 26% were doing it manually once a day and 19% weekly. Seven percent said they never backed up data or did not know.

Mr Gorrie said Symantec’s advice included keeping software up to date, getting employees involved and using ‘‘strong’’ passwords.