Credit: Beehive.govt.nz “The new strategy highlights four fundamentals for cybersecurity in New Zealand,” says Minister of broadcasting, communications and digital media Kris Faafoi. “Partnerships are crucial; people are secure and human rights are respected online; economic growth is enhanced, and national security is protected.” “A lot of work went in to hearing what was needed and what was important to the cybersecurity community, and how we could help New Zealanders be confident and secure in the digital world. “As a result, the 2019 strategy is based on four values, the most important of which in my view is “partnerships are crucial” because neither government nor the private sector can do it alone. We have to work together to keep individuals, businesses, community organisations and the private sector to thrive online.” Faafoi says the Government had allocated $8 million over the next four years to help implement the strategy. Beehive.govt.nzKris Faafoi – Minister of broadcasting, communications and digital media This is on top of $9.3 million increased funding for CERT NZ. “As part of the Wellbeing Budget, the government has funded a number of new or expanded initiatives to keep new Zealanders cyber secure and build a secure digital nation. Two initiatives that directly support the new strategy are funding to address emerging priorities and increased funding for CERT NZ to address growing demand for its services. “It is important to stress that a focus on cybersecurity is critical across society and the economy,” says Faafoi. “This is why the strategy also sets out the government’s priorities on cybercrime and how New Zealand will continue to champion a free, open and secure internet internationally.” The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) New Zealand and the National Cyber Security Centre and international sources continue to report an ongoing rise in the scale and sophistication of the cyber security threat. Incidents reported to CERT NZ increased by 205 per cent in 2018. The National Cyber Security Centre recorded 347 incidents, largely affecting organisations of national significance in the 2017 financial year with 39 per cent of those incidents linked to state sponsored actors. Sign up for CIO newsletters for regular updates on CIO news, career tips, views and events. Follow CIO New Zealand on Twitter:@cio_nz Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz @divinap Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe