Cyber crime risk in the Pacific will get worse - experts

The risk of cyber crime is rising for Pacific governments, and though some have been hit hard already, experts warn it is about to get much worse.

Eighteen months ago, Papua New Guinea's pay system that manages hundreds of millions of foreign aid dollars was taken down and held ransom by hackers.

Following this incident, internet services in the Marshall Islands were disrupted, and Vanuatu's government remains in recovery mode after being locked out of all its online services late last year.

Professor Steven Ratuva of Canterbury University said cyber criminals deliberately target nations they believe have weak cyber security.

"Countries like PNG (Papua New Guinea) for instance has been heavily compromised recently and there have been attempts in other Pacific Island states like FSM (Federated States of Micronesia) and so forth, so it's going to increase all the time," he told 1News.

An IBM report revealed the Asia-Pacific region was the most attacked in the world in 2022, accounting for nearly a third of all cyber security incidents.

Joint international efforts from New Zealand, Australia and other countries have contributed to strengthening Pacific systems against increasing attacks.

CERT NZ's Pacific Partnership Programme works closely with island neighbours, program director Lefaoali'i Meremine Auelua saying they are "not dealing with the issue of if it's going to happen, it's actually going to be when".

However, Ratuva said the international approach was "not sufficient".

"The forum itself should have a special unit just geared towards cyber security for the future... We are talking about geopolitical security," he argued.

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