NZI has put together a cyber security tips and best practice self-assessment for New Zealand businesses, in conjunction
with Deloitte.
NZI’s national manager, liability, Ryan Clark said there was a real need for business owners to be aware of the serious implications of a cyber-attack, and to take the time to educate their staff of best practices to prevent an attack from occurring.
“This is a useful tips and self-assessment tool for brokers to share with clients, outlining key cyber risk management steps,” Clark said.
He says people were often the weakest link in IT systems.
“By raising staff awareness, common attacks can be avoided, as staff are able to better identify threats.”
Though it was important to try and avoid an attack from happening in the first place, Clark said businesses also needed to make sure they had adequate insurance cover to help them get back up and running and avoid any reputational damage if an attack was to occur.
A recent Norton NZ small business security survey found that one in five small businesses had been targeted by a cyber-attack. Despite this, only 6% of SMEs in New Zealand had cyber insurance, thus putting their livelihoods and business reputation at risk.
“Cyber-attacks, in many forms, are happening to ordinary Kiwi businesses every day, and those who have experienced a cyber-attack are recognising the benefit of being with a reputable and experienced cyber insurer like NZI.”
One panel beater saved over $130,000 in losses from a cyber-attack because they had invested in cyber insurance with NZI.
The panel beater was hit by a ransomware attack which was preventing access to their remote access server. However, after the insured’s broker phoned the NZI cyber hotline (available to all of NZI’s cyber policy holders), their server was disconnected, reformatted and restored within a day.
The insured lost some of their data, including a significant number of quotes, due to not regularly backing up their data before the attack occurred.
NZI has now handled 50 cyber claims, 50% of which were due to ransomware attacks. Clark said many of those businesses had managed to avoid further damage because they had prompt access to the right people to resolve the issue.
“When they call the NZI cyber hotline, businesses are connected with a cyber breach co-ordinator, who deploys industry-leading experts in IT, legal, forensics and public relations (as needed), to get them back on their feet as soon as possible.”
But, he said, despite its potential to help them avoid major losses should something go wrong, New Zealand businesses were still lagging behind in their uptake of cyber insurance.
“It’s important that brokers advise businesses to think beyond just 'bricks and mortar' – Kiwis need to understand that we are just as vulnerable to a cyber attack as the rest of the world.”
Please visit www.nzicyber.co.nz to access the cyber security – tips and best practice self-assessment and other useful information including proposal forms, wording and claims examples.
