Cyber Smart Week 2023: Strengthen your Cyber Resilience

CERT NZ is the Government agency responsible for gathering data on cybercrime, and their numbers paint a worrying picture.

• 3,918 cybercrime incidents were responded to by CERT NZ in the first 6 months of 2023, and this equates to a direct financial loss of $10M.*
• The top cybersecurity threats facing individual and businesses in 2022 and 2023 (to date) are phishing and credential harvesting and secondly, scams and fraud. *

Cyber-attacks remain a very real source of concern for New Zealand businesses. As businesses are more reliant on technology, cyber criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods and emerging technologies to leverage critical assets for financial gain.

There have been series of high-profile cyber-attacks to organisations in recent years. A prime example is the ransomware attack in 2022 involving the government clients of Mercury IT, a Managed Services Provider. The Ministry of Justice and Health New Zealand were among some of the public authorities impacted.

Cyber Liability Insurance can help protect your business against exposure to potential cyber threats. Any business that operates online today is a potential target for cyber criminals and may benefit from Cyber Liability Insurance.

Cyber threat exposures can have significant financial, operational and reputational impacts on a business. For example:

• The loss or unauthorised copying of commercially sensitive data, personal records and intellectual property.
• The time, staff and resources spent on recovering from a cyber incident can result in disruptions to your normal day to day business operations.

Cyber Liability Insurance can provide critical business liability cover and help mitigate the damage if you suffer a cyber attack or breach. Depending on your policy, it can cover:

• Access to specialists to assist in containing the cyber event
• Protection from your loss and third party loss
• Ransom costs and social engineering claims
• Crisis management and legal costs
• Business interruption

Cyber insurance should only form part of your overall cyber security risk management strategy. It’s worthwhile to consider:

• Reviewing your controls for cyber risk against published standards – for example, CERT NZ’s top cyber security tips to help protect businesses and their data, network and customer information **
• Maintaining a documented cyber security plan and internal security polices
• Demonstrating effective network security protocols
• Obtaining an independent cyber security audit or penetration testing
• Inclusion of cyber security incident notification clauses in contract documentation with key suppliers