The most common cybercrime was unauthorised access to online accounts, the survey found, with 37 percent suffering that fate. Nearly a third surveyed (31 percent) reported malicious software like spyware, viruses and ransomware on their devices.
“The fact that one third of Kiwis surveyed have experienced cybercrime in the past year, shows that cybercriminals are increasingly taking advantage of our heightened digital footprint,” Mark Gorrie, senior director, Asia Pacific at NortonLifeLock said.
“As we face an ongoing pandemic with work and school oscillating between in-person and online, both companies and individuals will have a continued responsibility to ensure the proper protections are in place to defend themselves against cybercriminals.”
Last week CERT NZ, the Government’s cybersecurity agency, revealed in the three months between October and December last year that Kiwis had lost over $6.5 million to online scams.
That came from just 414 incidents reported to it, the agency said, with the majority of financial losses less than $500. Ten incidents cost over $100,000, however.
There were nearly 4000 reports to CERT NZ in the three months to December, up a massive 92 percent from the previous quarter.
The biggest increase was malware incidents, which was up a staggering 1030 percent, with the Flubot text messaging scam making up two-thirds of those incidents.
Norton found 10 percent of those surveyed for its report had fallen victim to a shipping-related scam…
