This quarter, CERT NZ received 1,333 incident reports. This is the highest number of reports to date. These reports show how online threats and vulnerabilities can have a big impact on business operations and the day-to-day lives of New Zealanders.
Some examples include:
- A significant spike in scam and fraud reports which made up 50% of the total number of reports received in quarter four, an increase of 230% from quarter three.
- Reports increased by more than 60% (from quarter three) across every region in New Zealand, with the exception of Auckland which increased by 47%.
- Reports from the age group 65+ made up over quarter of reports about individuals.
Highlights
1,333 incident reports were received in quarter four, up 53% from quarter three.
$5.9 million in reported losses up $3m from quarter three.
783 reports were about individuals, up 103% from quarter three.
Malware reports continued to increase with 48 reports, more than double the amount in quarter three.
Results in numbers
Number of incidents reported by quarter
We received 1,333 reports in the fourth quarter of 2018. This is the highest number of incidents reported to CERT NZ since its establishment.
Results by incident
Breakdown by incident category
Scams and fraud, phishing and credential harvesting, and malware remained the highest incident categories in quarter four.
Significant spike in scams
Reports of scams and fraud increased in quarter four, making up half the number of reports received, with a total loss of $4.9 million. In total, 666 scam and fraud reports were received in quarter four, up 236% from quarter three. 91% of scam and fraud reports were about individuals across all ages groups and regions in New Zealand.
Case study: CERT NZ helps business resolve malware infection
In quarter four, a medium-sized New Zealand business was disrupted by a malware infection.
Email extortion scam
Of all reports received in quarter four, a third related to a particular scam variant, email extortion scams.
CERT NZ 2018 summary provides an overview of what we've seen and done in the past year.
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