NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Small Business

NZ slow to respond to 'industrialised' hacking

Herald online
6 Aug, 2013 10:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Unitec's cybersecurity research centre would help bolster NZ's defence against attacks. Photo / Thinkstock

Unitec's cybersecurity research centre would help bolster NZ's defence against attacks. Photo / Thinkstock

New Zealand businesses have been slow to respond to the worldwide trend in automated cybersecurity attacks, says a US expert.

Those views have been endorsed by a local security consultant, who said being far away from the rest of the world was no longer a safety guarantee for New Zealand.

Mark Kraynak, senior vice president of Imperva, said modern hacking tools meant cyber criminals can quickly and easily scan the internet for vulnerable websites and launch attacks.

As a consequence, small or medium-sized Kiwi businesses which may once have been off the radar were becoming targets.

"Now that the bad guys can find anyone online, that's changed. They've figured out that the little guys are actually pretty good targets," Kraynak said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It's probably true that criminals weren't paying much attention to New Zealand but it's become easier for organisations to find places to attack here."

Imperva is a US- headquartered data security company looking to ramp up its profile in New Zealand. The company claims data attacks in New Zealand are ten times higher than in Australia, on a per capita basis.

Kraynak said Kiwi businesses, even the big banks, had generally been slow to react to the "industrialisation" of cyberattacks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Where other countries had hardened themselves to attacks, New Zealand was lagging behind and businesses needed to lift their security standards.

He said New Zealand companies tended to deploy software too casually and without putting adequate security settings in place.

An example was the popular collaboration tool SharePoint, which was typically deployed on "a piece-meal basis". Security was often an afterthought, he said.

"Developers are installing default controls, however there are no plans or policies for security risks. The high level of malicious attacks will continue until these basic controls are addressed by businesses of all sizes."

Discover more

Opinion

Chris Barton: Cyber-bullying law a blunder

05 Sep 09:30 PM
New Zealand|crime

Criminals target social media

11 Sep 05:30 PM
New Zealand|crime

Trade Me scammers step up

21 Sep 05:30 PM
New Zealand|politics

Dotcom illegal spies

24 Sep 05:30 PM

As well as the risk of losing valuable data, having malware planted on your website could also result in a business being blacklisted by Google, he said.

"You won't only drop off the search results but a big warning will also flag up every time someone searches for you. That will put you out of business because it's how other businesses find you."

Andy Prow, managing director of local company Aura Information Security, agreed that New Zealand had been "behind the eight-ball" with its cyber security.

"A lot of that is because we have not come under great target to date," Prow said. "We've had the luxury of not having to worry much."

Kiwis had historically not seen the Internet as being a hostile place, he said.

"Geography has bought us some time but these days, the internet doesn't care about geography."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to a report from Norton, more than 900,000 people fell victim to cybercrime in the year to September 2012, costing the country $462.9 million in direct financial losses.

The most common type of cyber crime in the year was computer viruses and malware, followed by online scams and phishing.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Small Business

Premium
Small Business

On The Up: Small Business - Wheelie good branding with The Cartery

04 May 09:00 PM
Premium
Crime

Inside the secret 3-year criminal case against Auckland's luxury doggy daycare

03 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Technology

Legaltech firm VXT raises $2.5m at $45m value with Silicon Valley backing

01 May 03:01 AM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Small Business

Premium
On The Up: Small Business - Wheelie good branding with The Cartery

On The Up: Small Business - Wheelie good branding with The Cartery

04 May 09:00 PM

Charlene White talks to Tom Raynel about her event-management business, The Cartery.

Premium
Inside the secret 3-year criminal case against Auckland's luxury doggy daycare

Inside the secret 3-year criminal case against Auckland's luxury doggy daycare

03 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Legaltech firm VXT raises $2.5m at $45m value with Silicon Valley backing

Legaltech firm VXT raises $2.5m at $45m value with Silicon Valley backing

01 May 03:01 AM
Premium
Small Business: How Otto is gamifying savings to encourage financial habits

Small Business: How Otto is gamifying savings to encourage financial habits

27 Apr 07:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP