Empowering New Zealanders: Cyber Smart Week Recap & Future Initiatives

Good morning, and thank you, CyberCX, for the invitation to speak today.

It’s a privilege to be here today, particularly following Cyber Smart Week, our national effort to raise cyber security awareness run by the National Cyber Security Centre.

Cyber Smart Week is timed to align with International Cyber Security Awareness Month. This gives us a powerful platform to remind every New Zealander that as technology continues to advance, a secure digital life is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.

The recent numbers are stark.

Our research shows, fifty four percent of New Zealanders have faced an online security threat in the past six months, yet only forty two percent feel personally vulnerable to online threats. In 2024, cyber-related losses were estimated to total $1.6 billion, affecting 830,000 people, with an average loss of $1,260 per incident.

These figures tell us two things: the threat is real and growing, and there is a dangerous gap between New Zealanders’ perception of this risk and their preventative actions.  Cyber Smart Week helps to close that gap.

This year’s campaign was built around two clear objectives. First, to draw attention to the importance of being secure online. Second, to encourage New Zealanders to take responsibility and proactive steps to protect themselves.

As part of Cyber Smart Week, we launched the How Exposed Am I?  tool through the Own-Your-Online platform. The free online tool shows New Zealanders what information of theirs might be exposed to scammers or cyber criminals and empowers them to take simple, but effective, steps to protect themselves.

Users enter their email address which is indexed against over 73 billion data points from real-world leaks. The user is shown where their email has been exposed online and gives an overall exposure score; the higher your score, the more exposed you are.

The tool shows how using long, unique passwords and two factor authentication can decrease your exposure, illustrating how these simple steps can make a significant difference.  The more people who see their exposure score and implement the actions, the faster we can shift the culture from complacency to vigilance.

I encourage you all to check your exposure at HowExposedAmI.co.nz.

Cyber Smart Week also includes over 1,500 organisations and community groups who sign up to support the week and share key cyber information and advice with their teams, and communities.

Cyber Smart Week does not exist in isolation: it is one part of the whole-of-government effort to improve cyber security, which supports the safe digitisation of government services - the work led by the Government Chief Digital Officer and the All of Government Digital Portfolio.

You may have seen the recent announcement by Cabinet to strengthen GCDO oversight of government digital investment and procurement. As well as driving down costs, this work includes a focus on building a more efficient and secure government, that utilises key technology such as Digital Identity, the standardisation of platforms, and actively fostering ‘security by design’ considerations within the Digital Portfolio products and services.

Since 2017, the Portfolio has delivered $800 million in savings across a total spend of $6.1 billion, over half of which was spent with New Zealand owned businesses. Today, 333 public sector agencies are consuming Portfolio services, and that number continues to rise.

One of the key benefits of the Portfolio is that it enables government to apply consistent, foundational security assurance checks across All of Government digital suppliers, centrally and efficiently.

By applying standards once, rather than requiring each individual agency to repeat this work with suppliers, we ensure cost, time and effort is decreased, and security is built in from the start, not tacked on as an afterthought.

All of Government suppliers understand that they will be held to account on security matters, which drives them to embed security into their practice and improves the overall security posture of the system.

As agency consumption of Portfolio products and services grows, the security posture of government will increase.

In February 2024, GCDO launched the Public Cloud Data Centre Certification initiative, that provides a standardised and consistent foundational security assessment of onshore Public Cloud Data Centres.

This ensures Public Cloud Data Centre providers meet Cabinet-mandated standards, the Protective Security Requirements, and the standards set out in the New Zealand Information Security Manual.

While this is a voluntary Certification, it signals to agencies and the public that their data is stored in facilities that meet security and resilience criteria.

Our next focus is to modernise Infrastructure as a Service and Telecommunications as a Service Contracts, which expire in October and November 2026.

These will be replaced with new commercial agreements available through Marketplace.

This change will ensure Infrastructure, Telecommunications, and Managed Security services deliver agency requirements into the future, with consistent modern terms fit for our rapidly evolving technology environment.

In short, the digital services we rely on will remain robust, adaptable, and accountable.

CyberCX is a valued partner in the New Zealand digital ecosystem. Holding an All of Government Contract, you deliver Data and Information, Digital Experience, and Information Security services through Marketplace. Your expertise strengthens our digital foundations and directly supports the protective measures we urged New Zealanders to adopt during Cyber Smart Week.

I want to thank all of you in attendance today. Please continue your hard work to protect your organisations, customers, and New Zealanders from evolving cyber security threats.

Thank you all for your time today and for your ongoing contribution to a safer digital future.