A recent study, commissioned by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and carried out by The Research Agency (TRA), revealed that over half of New Zealand’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) experienced a cyber threat in the past six months.
The NCSC’s survey revealed an increase in reported cyber threats, with 53% of SMEs affected in the last six months, up from 36% in the previous period.
“With cyber threats increasing in frequency and sophistication globally, New Zealand’s businesses need to anticipate a cyber security attack and plan accordingly to lessen the threat and be ready to respond,” Mike Jagusch, director of mission enablement at NCSC, said.
Many SMEs recognise the importance of cyber security—94% acknowledge its significance—yet a large number still believe that their existing security measures are sufficient.
According to Jagusch, this mindset can result in underuse of crucial security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA) and regular data backups.
“2FA is a simple and effective way of adding an extra layer of protection to online accounts that can often prevent the majority of online attacks,” he said.
More than half of the SMEs that experienced a cyber incident reported concrete consequences such as financial losses, disruptions to operations, damage to their reputation, and unauthorised access to sensitive information.