By Jenny Suo
Every second thousands of invisible missiles packed with malicious content are launched into the country, aimed at our computers and after our personal details.
But with new technology the country now has a new weapon against cyber crime.
“We're able to pinpoint every single attack, what they are, what type they are, what protocol they're using, where they're coming from,” says Dr Hossein Sarrafzadeh.
The technology has been brought to Unitec thanks to a collaboration with Japan's national cybercrime division.
It’s now part of the country's first cyber security research centre, and given that New Zealand receives four times more attacks than Japan, Unitec's head of computing says it's long overdue.
“As time goes, criminals learn more and more so we need to be equipped more and more and we need to be prepared to prevent them and stop them,” says Dr Sarrafzadeh.
There’s currently no authoritative research on cybercrime and how much it's costing New Zealanders a year but cyber safety experts say they have a rough idea.
“The Norton Report that came out this year put the figure at around $450 million, and they suggested that around 2000 people in the country per day suffer some sort of malware infection or some form of cyber incident,” says Chris Hails of Netsafe.
And now those incidents will be recorded and analysed.
“We will be able to develop software that can prevent them better than we are now, and even predict them before they attack,” says Dr Sarrafzadeh.
Cyber criminals, you have been warned
3 News