But threats remain high
CERT NZ’s latest data revealed a 24% decline in cybercrime losses in Q4 2023 to $3.6 million, suggesting a quieter year – but this doesn’t mean cybercriminals are resting.
Scams, scams, scams
A surge in phone scams aimed at Chinese-speaking migrants led to a significant rise in reported incidents. The objective of these calls remains unclear, yet the high volume implies potentially hundreds of unreported cases ensnaring victims.
Rob Pope, CERT NZ director, said this demonstrates that malicious actors are not giving up.
Pope noted that phishing, through emails, text messages, or phone calls, consistently ranked as the most prevalent type of cyber incident encountered daily.
“The CERT NZ team deal with hundreds of phishing indicators every week and we know that New Zealanders are being caught out by the increasingly sophisticated campaigns,” he said in a media release.
The advanced nature of these attacks, according to CERT NZ, is evident in the recent surge of recovery room scams, which prey on people already victimised by cybercrime, offering false assistance to extract additional funds.
Concerns over underreporting and future attacks
Despite a decrease in reports, underreporting and significant financial impacts on people and businesses persist.
“While the lower numbers for 2023 in total may seem like a good thing, we know that underreporting is still happening,” Pope said. “There are also individuals suffering from large financial losses to these criminals as well as numerous businesses being targeted with ransomware and email harvesting.”
Pope warned of more targeted future attacks stemming from broad phishing campaigns and urged everyone to “remain vigilant for incidents.”
Access the 2023 Annual Report Summary and Quarter four cyber security insights 2023 for more information.
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