Cyber security at Craigs

At Craigs we are acutely aware of the importance of cyber security, and take our role as guardians of client data seriously. We are proud supporters of CERT NZ’s annual awareness campaign, Cyber Smart Week, empowering New Zealanders to protect themselves online.

Craigs’ cyber security measures

Craigs partners with a specialist cyber security firm to ensure our policies, procedures, and prevention and detection mechanisms are up to date and effective.

We also engage an objective, external agency to undertake an annual internal control audit across key systems and platforms to ensure we are following industry best practice principles.

Cyber scams

We increasingly live our lives online, where scams are becoming more frequent and harder to detect.

You may recall a major investment scam made headlines in February, stealing millions of dollars over the course of a month. The scam website ranked highly in searches for ‘term deposit comparison NZ’ on Google, and applicants were sent what appeared to be professional prospectus documents.

In the quarter 1 April – 30 June 2023, CERT recorded 1,950 cyber safety incidents, with $4.2 million in direct financial loss. The highest quarter recorded by CERT was 1 October – 31 December 2021, with $6.6 million in direct financial loss.

Protecting yourself online

While these incidents are devasting for victims, CERT NZ says there are simple measures we can take to protect ourselves online, “The good news is many cyber security incidents can be prevented, or have less impact, when protective measures are put in place. This includes seemingly simple actions like changing privacy settings in social media and using long, strong and unique passwords.”

Seven simple actions to improve your cyber resilience

1. Be cautious anytime money is exchanged. As Jacob Jensen, Craigs Cyber Security Engineer notes, “Craigs will never send an email instructing you to change your bank account details or notify you of any change to our bank details. Any email containing this kind of information is very likely to be from a fraudster.”
2. Ensure you only log in to an account through an official website. Don’t click on any login links or provide or confirm personal details in emails or text messages, especially from senders you don’t know.
3. Only make purchases from websites that use trusted and secure payment systems. If you’re buying goods online, check the billing process is secure (characterised by https:// and a padlock symbol in the URL).
4. When it comes to passwords, a password manager is the best tool. Consumer NZ describes a password manager as a “virtual vault” containing all your passwords, based in the cloud or on your device. They work by generating a unique and complex password for each new site you log into; you only need to remember one master password. There are both free and paid versions available.
5. Install and run cyber security software, and keep software, browsers and apps up to date. The easiest way to do this is to approve automatic security updates.
6. While most of us know not to share personal information online, and to set social media accounts to private, make sure this is the case with all family members and device users.
7. Finally, keep up to date with cyber security advice and incidents. The media does a good job reporting scams and your adviser will alert you to any investment scams we become aware of.

If you are concerned about suspicious emails or think that your email or other personal information has been compromised, please contact your adviser, bank, or relevant information provider immediately.

Using these simple and effective actions will improve your cyber resilience and could prevent or reduce the impact of a cyber security incident.

Helpful resources

cert.govt.nz

craigsip.com/cyber-security

consumer.org.nz

netsafe.org.nz

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