Online Crime Costs New Zealand Consumers $257 million

Online Crime Costs New Zealand Consumers $257 million

Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report Reveals Eight out of Ten New Zealand Consumers Surveyed Believe They Will Experience Online Crime

AUCKLAND – 24 November 2015 – Norton by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC), today released its findings from the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report, which sheds light on the truths of online crime and the impact it has on New Zealand consumers.

The report found that 83 percent of New Zealanders worry they will be a victim of online crime, and 65 percent believe it is more likely their credit card information will be stolen online than from their wallets.

“Our findings reveal that consumer reservations are grounded in reality. In the past year, almost NZ$257 million was lost to cybercrime and approximately 856,000 New Zealanders were impacted by online crime,” said Mark Gorrie, Director, Norton by Symantec, Pacific region.

“Consumer confidence has also been rocked by the number of mega breaches that exposed the identities of millions of people who were making routine purchases from well-known retailers,” he added. “Our findings demonstrate that the headlines rattled people’s trust in mobile and online activity, but it hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple protection measures people should take to safeguard their devices and information online.”

Consumers Frustrated With Cybercrime

New Zealanders lost an average of 22 hours and $300 per person dealing with the impact of cybercrime. On top of this, cybercrime takes an emotional toll with nearly nine out of 10 respondents (89 percent) saying they’d be devastated if their financial information was compromised.

Overconfident, But Underprepared

Despite concern and awareness of cybercrime, consumers are overconfident in their online security behaviours. When asked to grade their security practices, they consistently award themselves a solid “A”. But in reality, most are not passing the most basic requirement of online security: password use. In New Zealand:

• Less than half (45 percent) always use a secure password – a combination of at least eight letters, numbers and symbols.

• People are sharing passwords to sensitive accounts with friends and family. Of those sharing passwords, more than one in three (38 percent) share their banking account password, and on average they are sharing passwords for two accounts, with the most common passwords shared being email (54 percent) and social media (46 percent).

• Women are also more likely to share their passwords than men (31 percent versus 23 percent).

Additional Key Findings:

• Less than half (38 percent) are confident they know what to do if there were affected by online crime.

• More than one third (37 percent) of millennials think they aren’t “interesting enough” to be a target of online crime, despite 51 percent experiencing online crime.

• Just over half of New Zealand consumers (52 percent) think that storing their credit/banking information in the cloud is riskier than not wearing a seatbelt.

Norton Top Tips to Stay Safe Online:

• Choose a unique, smart, secure password for each account you have online. For tips on how to do this, click here.

• Delete emails from senders you don’t know, and don’t click on attachments or links on suspicious looking emails.

• On social media sites if an offer sounds too good to be true, it just might be. Beware of the pitfalls of clicking on links from social media sites. Before clicking, hover the mouse over the link to see its destination. Only click on links that lead to reputable, official company pages.

• Always monitor your financial accounts for unusual activity. If there is a charge that you didn’t make, report it immediately. Often cybercriminals will charge a small “test” amount before attempting to drain your bank account.

• Don’t put off installing security software such as Norton Security Premium and updating it regularly.

• Use a secure backup solution to protect files and backup regularly so criminals can’t hold them for ransom.

• Report cybercrime to The Orb and seek support from IDCare, if you have been a victim of identity theft.

To learn more about cybercrime and how consumers can protect themselves online, click here.

About the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report

The Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report is an online survey of 17,125 device users ages 18+ across 17 markets, commissioned by Norton by Symantec and produced by research firm Edelman Berland. The margin of error for the total sample is +/-0.75%. The New Zealand sample reflects input from 1,001 device users ages 18+. Data was collected Aug. 25-Sept. 18, 2015 by Edelman Berland.

About Symantec

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is the global leader in cybersecurity. Operating one of the world’s largest cyber intelligence networks, we see more threats, and protect more customers from the next generation of attacks. We help companies, governments and individuals secure their most important data wherever it lives.

© Scoop Media