Over the past year, people around the world1 (65 percent) report spending more time online than ever before as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we connected to the internet for everything from work and school to entertainment, social connection and even groceries, cybercriminals took advantage and launched coordinated attacks and convincing scams.
Today, NortonLifeLock, a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety, revealed that in the past year nearly 330 million people across 10 countries were victims of cybercrime and more than 55 million people were victims of identity theft. Cybercrime victims collectively spent nearly 2.7 billion hours trying to resolve their issues. In New Zealand, it is estimated cybercrime led to a collective loss of $198 million.
Despite many New Zealanders (61 percent) saying they are taking more precautions online because they are concerned about cybercrime, over a third say they feel more vulnerable to cybercrime than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic began (36 percent), and that they aren’t sure how to protect themselves from cybercrime (47 percent).
The sixth annual Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report found one in five New Zealanders (20 percent) detected unauthorised access to an account or device in the past 12 months. Of the 1.3 million New Zealanders who experienced cybercrime in the past 12 months (35 percent and a 1 percent fall from 2019), victims spent an average of 3.7 hours trying to resolve the issues created, for an estimated over 5 million hours of New Zealanders’ time lost.
“While New Zealanders lives weren’t disrupted at the same levels as other nations, some behaviours adopted in 2020, like working from home or increased online shopping, will likely remain”, says Mark Gorrie, Senior Director, Asia Pacific, NortonLifeLock.
“Cybercriminals have taken advantage of our changing behaviours and increased digital footprint, and quickly learned to exploit the heightened online activity. As we adapt to the post-pandemic world, companies and invidividuals in particular will have a greater responsibility to ensure the proper protections are in place to fight evolving cybercriminals.”
Online criminal activity has led to feelings of anger, fear and anxiety. More than 2 in 5 New Zealanders who detected unauthorised access to an account or device in the past 12 months felt violated (43 percent), stressed (41 percent) and around a third (34 percent) felt powerless. Nearly all (98 percent) took some action after detecting unauthorised access to their account(s), most commonly making password(s) stronger (62 percent) or contacting the company that the account was hacked from (47 percent). Around a quarter turned to family member(s) (25 percent) and friend(s) (24 percent), or went online to try and find help (30 percent), but only a quarter (23 percent) purchased security software or increased pre-existing security software.
Nearly 130,000 New Zealanders experienced ID theft in 2020, and more than 4 in 5 (84 percent) wish they had more information on what to do if their identity was stolen. Many New Zealanders are very worried their identity will be stolen, but nearly 6 in 10 (59 percent) say they would have no idea what to do if it were.
More than half of Kiwis (51 percent), whether they have experienced identity theft or not, are very worried that their identity will be stolen.
Most New Zealanders are concerned about data privacy (79 percent) and want to do more to protect it (87 percent). In fact, nearly 9 in 10 (86 percent) have taken steps to protect their online activities and personal information, about a quarter of whom (26 percent) have done so due to changes in lifestyles and work environment since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“It’s very encouraging to see more New Zealanders taking proactive steps to their cyber security and protecting their digital world,” said Gorrie.
Additional New Zealand findings include:
