New Zealanders thought lax protecting their online data

WELLINGTON: The government agency helping organisations and individuals affected by cyberattacks says people need to become much more aware of the risks and take steps to protect their data and personal information.

‘‘The Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ attitude won’t cut the mustard any more when it comes to cybersecurity,’’ CERT NZ director Rob Pope said, adding the agency was getting about 1000 calls a month from victims of attacks.

‘‘CERT NZ’s incident data, and information provided by our global partners tells us that cyberattacks have become more sophisticated, persistent and harder to detect than ever before.’’

He said a password manager, twofactor authentication, updating devices, and checking privacy settings were basic steps to take.

Recent research by CERT found 87% of those surveyed thought safety and security of their personal information online was something important to them but 40% thought the precautions to protect that information were inconvenient.

Almost a third did not frequently check the privacy settings on their social media accounts and about the same number did not use twofactor authentication when logging into an online account, such as a code sent to a phone in combination with a password.

‘‘It appears the majority of Kiwis know they should be cybersmart, but some are not acting on it,’’ Mr Pope said.

‘‘The results are concerning. They reveal approximately a third of New Zealanders are more vulnerable to a cyberattack, meaning their data could be accessed and their identity stolen, enabling the attacker to conduct . . . criminal activities, including online fraud.’’ — RNZ