Financial losses as a result of cyber-attacks averaged $19,000 for smaller New Zealand businesses, according to a survey by security software firm Symantec, almost three times the losses for Australian firms.
The survey of 525 business owners and operators of firms employing up to 20 people found that email and phishing scams were by far the most common, with 70 per cent saying they had been subject to such attacks. A further 47 per cent said they had been subjected to hacking attacks.
Norton by Symantec Pacific Territory manager Mark Gorrie said ransomware operations are becoming more sophisticated, with reports some even used help desks to assist with payments after firms were locked out of their own computers. The encryption used was also becoming harder to break.
Some 5 per cent of business owners said they had been affected by a ransomware attack and 13 per cent of those had paid a ransom to get back access to their data, with an average payment of $1,340. While all of them did manage to get their data back, in Australia 8 percent of those who paid never got it back, Gorrie said.
The average financial loss for small Australian firms surveyed was A$6,600 (NZ$7,193).
