Making New Zealand cyber-resilient requires team effort. As the Government’s lead operational cyber security agency, the National Cyber Security Centre plays a part in protecting New Zealand networks from cyber threats such as malware, exploitation and phishing.
Malware Free Networks
Malware Free Networks (MFN®) is an award-winning threat disruption and detection service the NCSC has been running since 2021. MFN operates by collecting threat intelligence from a range of unique, high-confidence sources and providing it to MFN partners in a timely and actionable manner for them to protect their customers.
The MFN service is an award winner!
- 2022 iSANZ Award for Best New Zealand Security Product or Service.
- 2023 Public Service Commission’s Spirit of Service – Te Tohu mō te Ratonga Whakahirahire, Service Excellence Award, and the overall Prime Minister’s Award.
How it works
MFN partners are subscribed to a list of indicators (malicious domains, URLs and IPs) that is regularly updated as new sources of threats are identified. MFN partners then take steps to protect their customers or clients by preventing access to these indicators, actively blocking malicious activity from reaching you. 
There are 22 MFN partners as of March 2025. These are listed on the NCSC website and include telecommunications network operators and managed cyber security service providers. Their customers, in turn, include thousands of small to medium enterprises, large organisations and government agencies.
To date, MFN has disrupted over 400 million malicious cyber events targeting New Zealanders.
MFN by the numbers
- Official launch: November 2021
- Number of partners: 22
- Malicious threats disrupted: 430,000,000+
- Unique Indicators Tasked: 145,000+
(as of March 2025)
How do I sign up?
Organisations that receive services from any of our MFN partners are eligible to receive protection from NCSC-identified malicious cyber activity.
While MFN is largely targeted at protecting organisations from cyber threats, everyday New Zealanders can also receive a level of MFN protection when using the DNS servers of one of the listed mobile and broadband suppliers. Our partners are at various stages in their customer engagement and onboarding processes. You can ask your ISP or service provider about whether you are protected by the MFN threat disruption service.
Find out more about MFN on the NCSC website.
Malware Free Networks | National Cyber Security Centre External Link