65 percent of Kiwis surveyed admit they would have no idea what to do
if their identity was stolen

 Norton, a leading consumer Cyber Safety brand of Gen, today announced the New Zealand launch of Norton™ 360 Platinum, which leverages the company's consumer identity protection expertise to help victims of identity theft resolve their issues1.

Identity theft occurs when an individual's personally identifiable information (PII) is obtained and used without permission, often for financial gain. With PII, identity thieves can make unauthorized purchases on credit cards, take over existing financial accounts and even create new financial accounts, which can lead to financial loss.

In the latest Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report in New Zealand. – conducted online in partnership with The Harris Poll amongst 1,003 adults aged 18+2 – nearly 6 in 10 New Zealand adults (56%) of those surveyed admit to being “very worried” their identity will be stolen and alarmingly over two in five (41%) expect their identity to be stolen at some point. Norton 360 Platinum tries to address this concern by helping consumers each step of the way, should they discover they're a victim of identity theft.

Currently, many people are not aware of the steps to take to recoup the funds lost because of fraudulent transactions or address the impact on their credit score due to identity theft.

Mark Gorrie, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Gen says: “Unfortunately, identity theft is not uncommon in New Zealand, with 14 percent of Kiwi adults surveyed reporting experience of it. A data breach or hack could lead, for example, to a loan being taken out in your name. This could impact your life and potentially even your credit score.

“Alongside various cyber security solutions included with this new plan, we’re also providing access to dedicated Identity Restoration Specialists, offering that all-important guidance to victims of identity theft should the unexpected happen.”

Local broadcasters Meg and Guy Mansell say: “Two years ago, our retirement saving provider informed us that hackers illegitimately obtained our personal information, amongst tens of thousands of other members. We had no control over that breach and understood that they stole information which included our names, addresses, IRD numbers, and potentially ID and proof of address documentation. It’s hard to describe the vulnerability you feel when faced with this discovery.

“We didn’t know what to do at the time, apart from changing that password. Looking back, if we had new Norton 360 Platinum we might have received alerts when the data was discovered on the dark web, and Norton Identity Restoration Specialists could have handheld us through any potential identity theft or recovery process. We are really careful with the information we share publicly, while our experience highlights how little control people have should an organisation they’ve interacted with suffer a breach. We’re now using Norton 360 Platinum, as it provides protection for our devices, online privacy and if we should need it, a helping hand with restoration.”

Norton 360 Platinum includes:

Dedicated Identity Restoration Specialists: A Restoration Specialist is assigned to each case of identity theft from start-to-finish, to help guide the victim through the full process to resolve their identity theft issue.

These award-winning Identity Restoration Specialists access over 7,000 verified merchant fraud processes worldwide and are available 7 days a week. This guidance includes help with relevant third parties, credit card companies, financial institutions, collection agencies, government agencies and other parties.

Social Media Monitoring4: According to Norton research, over the past 12 months, 29% of Kiwis surveyed have experienced a social media hack, highlighting the importance of this feature included with Norton 360 Platinum.

• Social Media Monitoring focuses on account takeover on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube and notifies the registered user of suspect activity linked to their account, or unexpected changes to account settings, so action can be taken.
• In addition, potentially risky links within the user’s account feed on Twitter and YouTube are flagged to help prevent malware downloads, as well as issuing alerts to possible scams and phishing attempts.

Dark Web Monitoring5: 81% of New Zealanders surveyed admit they don’t know how to check if their identity has ever been stolen. Dark Web Monitoring scans the dark web for registered personal information and if these details are found, a notification is issued, so action can be taken.

• Dark Web Monitoring goes beyond easily accessible sites and marketplaces, scanning private forums, social webs, deep web and dark web to search for registered personal information using advanced monitoring technology.

Dark Web Monitoring allows the user register personal information including driver’s licence number; it will also scan and monitor the dark web for up to ten credit card numbers, bank account numbers and gamer tags.

Norton 360 Platinum provides additional features including: Secure VPN, Password Manager, Parental Control, plus consumers can access greater levels of data back-up for their files and photos, as this plan provides 200GB PC Cloud Backup. Norton 360 Platinum offers protection for up to 5 or 10 PCs, Mac®, smartphones or tablets.

For those who wish to access the Identity Protection features as a standalone, Norton has released Norton Identity Advisor Plus. It provides Dark Web Monitoring, Social Media Monitoring and access to dedicated Restoration Specialists.

Norton 360 Platinum is available at key New Zealand retailers from early April, 2023. You can learn more at: http://nz.norton.com/products/norton-360-platinum

About Norton

Norton is a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen™ (NASDAQ: GEN), a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its family of trusted consumer brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner. Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately, and confidently today and for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy and identity protection to more than 500 million users in more than 150 countries. Learn more at Norton.com and GenDigital.com.

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[1] No one can prevent all cybercrime or all identity theft.

2All survey results in this document are from the Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report 2023, conducted online in partnership with The Harris Poll among 1,003 adults in New Zealand aged 18+. The survey was conducted November 29 – December 19, 2022. Data weighted where necessary by age, gender, region, education, and urbanicity to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

4Social Media Monitoring is only available on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. On Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn only, account takeover feature is available.

5 Dark Web Monitoring defaults to monitor your email address only and begins immediately. Sign in to your account to enter more information for monitoring.

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