Nextro

Nextro Maintains Genetec Unified Elite Partner status for 2026

Nextro Marketing — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 03:35:44 +0000

Nextro Maintains Genetec Unified Elite Partner status for 2026

Auckland, New Zealand – 12 November 2025 – Nextro has once again been recognised by Genetec as a Unified Elite Partner, the highest tier in Genetec’s global partner programme.

The renewed 2026 status highlights Nextro’s continued growth, technical expertise, and proven capability delivering and supporting Genetec’s unified physical and electronic security solutions across New Zealand.

This recognition reflects the strength of Nextro’s long-standing partnership with Genetec and the trust placed in our team by clients across critical infrastructure, crowded places, and New Zealand organisations.

We extend our thanks to our clients, partners, and the Genetec team for their continued collaboration. The Nextro team remains committed to advancing unified cyber, physical, and electronic security solutions that protect people, assets, and operations nationwide.

If you would like to learn how Nextro can help your business achieve security, safety, and operational efficiency outcomes, through clever and unified security design, please contact us today.

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Building Geopolitical Resilience in Times of Uncertainty

Nextro Marketing — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 23:02:56 +0000

Building Geopolitical Resilience in Times of Uncertainty

11 November 2025 | Nextro Analysis

The world is entering a period of sustained uncertainty. From shifting alliances and regional tensions to supply-chain constraints and cyber warfare, the boundaries between geopolitics and business risk have blurred. As ASIS International highlights in its latest article, Geopolitical Resilience in Times of Uncertainty, resilience now depends on how well organisations anticipate and adapt to these forces.

For New Zealand businesses and Nextro clients, especially those managing critical infrastructure, strategic manufacturing, or strategic logistics, this shift is more than academic. It affects how we design cyber, physical, and electronic security systems, plan for business continuity, and protect our New Zealand’s capabilities.

Understanding Geopolitical Resilience

Geopolitical resilience is described as the outermost layer of resilience. It moves beyond conventional risk management by looking at the underlying political, economic, social, and technological conditions that shape disruption.

Rather than reacting to crises, resilient organisations build the capacity to forecast, absorb, adapt, and recover. They treat resilience as a system-wide discipline that unites business strategy, operations, and security under a shared understanding of risk.

At its core, this approach encourages convergence. That is, the breaking down of silos between physical security, IT, and cybersecurity so that organisations can see the full picture of risk and opportunity.

The New Vectors of Risk

The article identifies four major forces reshaping organisational risk today (all of which are relevant to New Zealand businesses):

Economic and regulatory exposure
Trade restrictions, tariffs, and regulatory shifts can quickly alter how and where organisations operate. Protectionism, energy security, and data sovereignty now carry real business implications.

Supply chain vulnerability
Global supply networks are increasingly politicised. A single choke-point (such as a disrupted maritime route or a restricted technology export) can cascade across multiple industries. Building supply-chain resilience means diversifying sources, auditing dependencies, and modelling geopolitical scenarios.

Cyber and information threats
Cybersecurity cannot be viewed in isolation. Geopolitical tensions often shape the motives, funding, and tools of threat actors. State-sponsored campaigns and disinformation efforts highlight the need for security strategies that combine digital, operational, and human intelligence. New Zealand businesses and critical infrastructure are not immune.
Socioeconomic pressure and public perception
Inflation, social unrest, and disinformation all feed into risk landscapes. Understanding how these forces interact helps organisations prepare for reputational and operational impacts alike.

Breaking Silos and Seeing Opportunity

Building geopolitical resilience is not just about risk mitigation—it’s about readiness and agility. The article calls for an integrated mindset: connecting business leadership, operational security, and technology teams so that decisions are informed by a shared awareness of the wider environment.

This shift transforms security from a reactive function into a proactive enabler of strategy. It helps identify opportunities, such as diversifying markets, relocating supply chains, or investing in technologies that strengthen autonomy and reliability.

At Nextro, we see this alignment every day in our work with organisations that manage critical infrastructure, complex IT networks, and converged security environments. Resilience means more than protecting assets. It is about ensuring continuity of service and trust when global systems are under stress.

What This Means for New Zealand

For local businesses and agencies, geopolitical resilience demands new thinking. It’s about embedding foresight into planning, using data to monitor emerging risks, and ensuring that physical and digital systems are designed to adapt.

Key questions to ask:

Are your supply chains prepared for political or regulatory disruption?
Does your cybersecurity posture account for state-sponsored threats?
Does your physical security posture account for multi-dimensional attack vectors?
Do your business, IT, and security teams share a unified risk language?
Have you considered how global tensions could create opportunities to strengthen your position?

Nextro’s Perspective

At Nextro, we help bridge business strategy and security strategy. Our approach integrates physical security, IT networking, and cybersecurity into a unified resilience framework, helping clients adapt to a world where uncertainty is the new constant.

Resilience isn’t about standing still in the storm. It’s about knowing which way the wind is blowing, and designing systems that can adjust, absorb, and continue to perform.

Read the full article: ASIS International – Geopolitical Resilience in Times of Uncertainty

Please contact Nextro today to discuss how we can help your business.

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Unifying Hybrid Workforce Security with SASE

Nextro Marketing — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 04:43:47 +0000

Unifying Hybrid Workforce Security with SASE

A smarter, simpler way to protect users, devices, and data anywhere

Hybrid work has redrawn the security map

The modern workplace isn’t confined to an office. Employees log in from homes, airports, and client sites, often using personal devices and multiple cloud services. That flexibility brings productivity, but it also multiplies risk. Every new connection point expands the attack surface, making visibility and control harder for IT teams. Legacy tools like VPNs and point-to-point firewalls can’t keep up with this fluid, distributed model. The result is a mix of inconsistent security, rising threats, and growing complexity.

SASE brings clarity to the chaos

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) changes how organisations approach cybersecurity. It merges networking and security into one cloud-native framework that protects every user and every connection, wherever they are.

Instead of stitching together separate tools, SASE unifies them. It combines secure SD-WAN, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), next-generation firewall (NGFW), secure web gateway (SWG), and cloud access security broker (CASB) capabilities into a single platform.

This integration means consistent policies, stronger protection, and simpler management, whether the user is at a desk in Auckland or working remotely in another time zone.

Why it matters now

The numbers speak clearly. Around 73% of executives see remote workers as a higher security risk, and the average breach cost for small organisations sits above $3 million. Attacks such as phishing, ransomware, and credential theft thrive in fragmented environments where visibility is limited.

SASE tackles this by enforcing zero-trust principles across the network. Every user and device is authenticated, authorised, and continuously verified. Integrated AI-driven threat intelligence detects and neutralises threats in real time, before they disrupt the business.

Built for scale, speed, and simplicity

SASE platforms are built to evolve with your organisation. They scale easily to cover new branches, contractors, or cloud applications without re-architecting networks. By combining secure SD-WAN with security service edge (SSE) capabilities, SASE keeps application performance high and latency low — ensuring a fast, seamless user experience no matter where work happens.

The Nextro perspective

At Nextro, we see SASE as more than another layer of defence. It’s a foundation for confident, resilient operations in a hybrid world. It helps New Zealand organisations simplify their security architecture, protect their people wherever they connect, and stay agile as their networks grow.

SASE isn’t about more tools, it’s about one smart, unified platform that delivers security and performance in equal measure.

Key takeaway

Hybrid work is here to stay. Security must adapt accordingly. SASE gives businesses the unified visibility, flexibility, and control they need to thrive securely in this new environment.

Contact Nextro today to discover how your organisation can strengthen the cybersecurity posture of its hybrid workforce.

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Nextro Supplies New Zealand’s First Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Road Blockers to Auckland Airport

Nextro Marketing — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 02:39:01 +0000

Nextro Supplies New Zealand’s First Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Road Blockers to Auckland Airport

Auckland Airport has deployed PAS68-rated anti-terror road blockers at Checkpoint Delta, the airport’s newest landside-to-airside vehicle gateway.

The hostile vehicle mitigation road blockers, supplied and commissioned by Nextro, are the first of their kind in New Zealand.

“Auckland Airport’s decision to use road blockers for hostile vehicle mitigation at a key checkpoint sets the benchmark for securing critical infrastructure in the New Zealand. Nextro is proud to be a key partner in execution of this project,” said Martyn Levy, Managing Director, Nextro.

Nextro supplied and integrated the system’s core components, including TiSO Global road blockers, Axis Communications video surveillance cameras, and Genetec Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras.

The integrated checkpoint system enhances situational awareness, accelerates vehicle verification, and gives operations teams a modern platform to manage access efficiently.

The integrated security and operational system delivers tangible benefits to Auckland Airport, including:

Stronger perimeter and access security.
Greater operational efficiency and ergonomic improvements.
Enhanced health and safety for frontline staff.

This installation underscores the growing importance of hostile vehicle mitigation in securing crowded spaces, transport hubs, and critical infrastructure across New Zealand.

As security and operational challenges evolve, integrated systems (combining hostile vehicle mitigation, video surveillance, LPR/ANPR, access control, and analytics) are helping mitigate vehicle-based threats, enhance operational efficiency, and provide actionable business insights.

For more information on Nextro’s HVM solutions, click here.

For more information on Nextro’s unified security solutions, click here.

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Best Practices for Counter-Drone Deployment at Civilian Airports

Leon Harold — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:59:38 +0000

Best Practices for Counter-Drone Deployment at Civilian Airports

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are rewriting the rules of airspace management. What began as hobbyist innovation has become a tangible operational risk, especially for civilian airports, where even a single rogue drone can halt flights, disrupt schedules, and erode public confidence.

A new white paper from DroneShield, Best Practices for Counter-Drone Deployment at Civilian Airports, sets out a practical framework for how airports can get ahead of this emerging threat.

Why airports can’t ignore the drone problem

Airports move billions of passengers and tonnes of cargo each year. They are increasingly exposed to small, inexpensive drones operated by both careless hobbyists and bad actors.
Most incursions are accidental, but some are deliberate, with drones used for smuggling, surveillance, and targeted disruption. The line between nuisance and national security is thinner than ever.
For aviation authorities and airport operators, counter-drone capability is now part of the critical infrastructure playbook.

A layered approach to detection and response

DroneShield advocates a layered model combining multiple sensor technologies to detect, identify, and respond before threats affect operations.

Detection

RF sensors provide the first layer, passively scanning for control or telemetry signals.
Radar covers larger areas and can identify autonomous drones that don’t rely on RF links.
Optical and thermal sensors add visual confirmation, especially when supported by AI classification.

Response

In civil aviation, physical interception is rarely appropriate. Instead, airports rely on non-kinetic options such as:

RF disruption, which interrupts control links to force a safe landing or return-to-home.
Cyber takeover, which redirects or disables a drone through secure command override.

At the centre of this layered system is an integrated operations platform that fuses data from sensors, logs, and video feeds, enabling coordinated, legally compliant action.

Building operational resilience

Technology alone is not enough. The white paper highlights the importance of structured operations and collaboration across agencies:

Risk-based assessments to map terrain, likely launch zones, and communication vulnerabilities.
360-degree coverage extending beyond runways and approach paths.
Clear escalation and communication procedures across all airport departments and law-enforcement partners.
Regular training and simulation exercises to ensure readiness for real-world incursions.

The roadmap to implementation

DroneShield outlines a step-by-step pathway for airports adopting counter-UAS systems:

Conduct a comprehensive site and spectrum assessment.
Design a layered sensor network suited to the environment.
Integrate counter-drone technologies into existing security and emergency systems.
Carry out regular simulations and operator training.
Maintain and evolve systems to keep pace with new drone technologies and tactics.

This structured approach ensures compliance, operational resilience, and continuous improvement.

Why it matters for New Zealand crowded places and critical infrastructure.

While airports are a clear focal point for drone risk, the challenge extends far beyond aviation. DroneShield’s counter-UAS technologies are designed to protect a wide range of environments, from military bases and critical infrastructure to correctional facilities, public events, and stadia. Each of these locations faces unique operational and safety risks from unauthorised or malicious drone activity.

In the New Zealand context, these technologies have broad relevance: safeguarding national assets, maintaining public safety at major venues, and supporting resilience across essential services. As drones become more capable and accessible, the priority is not just detection but integration, ensuring that counter-drone systems work seamlessly with existing security operations, communications, and emergency frameworks.

For Nextro’s defence, infrastructure, and aviation partners, the message is clear: drone mitigation is not a single-use tool but a core component of modern situational awareness and risk governance.

Key takeaways

Drones represent an operational threat, not a novelty.
Layered detection and non-kinetic mitigation provide the safest, most effective defence.
Integration, coordination, and continuous improvement are critical.
Full-spectrum situational coverage beyond runways is essential for resilience.

Contact Nextro today to discover how your organisation can strengthen long-term security.

Download Whitepaper

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Genetec Expands Global Access Control Market Share with Strong Growth in 2025

Nextro Marketing — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 02:59:31 +0000

Genetec Expands Global Access Control Market Share with Strong Growth in 2025

Genetec, Montréal, October 2, 2025

Genetec has secured the #2 position worldwide for access control software and recorded the fastest organic growth in Asia Pacific, including New Zealand, according to Omdia’s newly released 2025 Access Control Report.

In an industry shaped by mergers and acquisitions, the report shows that Genetec achieved the highest organic global market share gain in on-premises access control software. For customers, partnering with a company focused on product innovation and stable growth rather than portfolio consolidation means they can plan long-term with confidence.

According to the Omdia report, Genetec also ranked as one of the fastest organically growing vendors in the Access Control as a service (ACaaS) segment in the Americas region, which represents more than 70% of the global market. This growth was propelled by the rapid adoption of Security Center SaaS, the company’s open, unified physical security cloud-based platform. Genetec has delivered ACaaS solutions since 2017, demonstrating its long-standing experience in helping organizations adopt cloud-based access control at their own pace.

Genetec retained its #2 position in the Americas for access control software market share, gained ground in EMEA, and remained among the top 10 providers in Asia Pacific*, where it once again recorded the region’s highest rate of organic growth.

According to Bryan Montany, Principal Research Analyst, Physical Security at Omdia, “The access control software market has been the fastest growing global driver of access control equipment sales over the past decade as the industry has become more software centric. Cloud-based solutions have emerged as a significant growth driver due to their scalability and their enhanced data processing capabilities. The strong organic growth achieved by Genetec demonstrates the appeal of its flexible deployment options, broad interoperability with third-party hardware, and unified security systems platform.”

Genetec access control solutions scale seamlessly from a single site to global deployments and give organizations the flexibility to run fully on-premises, in the cloud, or to deploy with a mix of both. Built on an open architecture, Genetec eliminates vendor lock-in and lets customers choose the hardware and third-party integrations that best meet their needs. Access control in Genetec Security Center and Security Center SaaS can also be unified with video, intrusion, communications, and other systems in a single interface, delivering stronger situational awareness and more efficient operations.

In addition to its 2025 access control report, Omdia recently released its 2025 Video Surveillance & Analytics Report, which showed that Genetec retained its #1 position worldwide in video surveillance software, and is also ranked #1 globally in the broader category that combines video surveillance software and Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS).

“For more than 25 years, our development strategy has focused on anticipating customer needs and delivering practical innovations. The consistent year-over-year growth noted by analysts in the access control and VMS markets is a testament to our long-standing commitment to open, unified systems, robust cybersecurity, and privacy by design,” said Christian Morin, Vice President of Product Engineering and Chief Security Officer at Genetec Inc.

What this means for the New Zealand market

With Asia Pacific recording the highest organic growth rate, New Zealand organisations are directly part of this regional momentum. More New Zealand businesses are seeking to modernise access control, unify security platforms, and explore cloud-based deployments.

As New Zealand’s top Genetec partner, Nextro helps bring this global innovation to the New Zealand market, tailoring deployments to meet the specific needs of New Zealand enterprises, crowded spaces, and critical infrastructure operators. By combining Genetec’s globally recognised solutions with Nextro’s local expertise, organisations gain access to trusted technology that is scalable, resilient, and designed with cybersecurity at its core.

Contact the Nextro team today. We are here to help you harness the latest in access control solutions, be they on premise, in the cloud or hybrid.

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Lessons for New Zealand from the Fortinet 2025 State of OT Cybersecurity Report

Nextro Marketing — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 01:06:44 +0000

Lessons for New Zealand from the Fortinet 2025 State of OT Cybersecurity Report

Global OT security trends and what they mean for New Zealand organisations in 2025

Fortinet has released its 2025 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report, a global study of 550 OT professionals across industries including energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. The findings show that OT security is maturing worldwide, with responsibility increasingly elevated to the C-suite, intrusions declining among more mature organisations, and best practices such as vendor consolidation, threat intelligence, and segmentation proving effective. For New Zealand organisations operating critical infrastructure, these trends provide valuable lessons. Nextro has analysed the report and drawn out insights specific to the New Zealand market.

OT security rises to the boardroom

One of the strongest messages from the report is that responsibility for OT cybersecurity is shifting into executive leadership. More than half of organisations now place OT security under the Chief Information Security Officer, compared to just 16 percent in 2022. This evolution signals that OT is no longer seen as a siloed technical issue but as a matter of corporate governance, risk, and reputation.

Maturity is the key to fewer intrusions

The study shows a strong link between security maturity and resilience. Organisations at the highest levels of maturity reported far fewer breaches, with 65 percent of Level 4 organisations experiencing no intrusions in 2025. In contrast, those at lower maturity levels faced more frequent attacks, particularly phishing and ransomware. For New Zealand, the lesson is clear: investing in structured, process-driven security yields measurable reductions in risk.

Consolidation as a path to resilience

Another major shift is the consolidation of technology vendors. Nearly eight in ten organisations worldwide now work with only one to four OT vendors, reducing complexity and simplifying operations. For New Zealand organisations, where teams are often small and resources tight, adopting a platform approach can bring similar benefits. Integration and simplification reduce overheads while enhancing visibility and security outcomes.

Preparing for regulatory change

Two-thirds of survey participants expect new OT compliance requirements within the next five years, and many believe these changes will arrive much sooner. While New Zealand has not yet introduced stringent OT regulations, the global move towards frameworks such as IEC 62443 suggests it is only a matter of time. Local organisations that align early with international standards will be better prepared for regulatory pressure and more resilient in the face of scrutiny.

Managing the legacy challenge

Most OT devices in use globally are more than six years old, with many incapable of being patched. This situation mirrors the reality in New Zealand, where industrial infrastructure often relies on ageing systems. To protect these environments, organisations must adopt compensating measures such as segmentation, OT-specific monitoring, and virtual patching. These approaches extend the life of critical assets without leaving security gaps.

Lessons for New Zealand leaders

The Fortinet 2025 report demonstrates that maturity, consolidation, and proactive governance are transforming OT security globally. For New Zealand businesses, the takeaways are clear: elevate OT security into board-level discussions, pursue continuous improvement to reach higher maturity, reduce complexity through platform integration, and prepare for both regulatory and legacy challenges.

Contact Nextro today to discover how your organisation can strengthen long-term security maturity, streamline through vendor consolidation, prepare for upcoming regulatory change, and manage the risks of legacy systems.

Read THE FULL REPORT HERE

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Learnings from the 2025 Data Security Report

Nextro Marketing — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 02:13:11 +0000

Learnings from the 2025 Data Security Report

Beyond Traditional Data Loss Prevention Solutions: Building Modern Data Security for New Zealand Organisations

In August 2025, Fortinet, in partnership with Cybersecurity Insiders, released the 2025 Data Security Report. Based on a global survey of 883 IT and cybersecurity professionals, the report explores the state of enterprise data protection, where traditional Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools are falling short, and what capabilities are most critical for the future. New Zealand businesses are generating and sharing more sensitive data than ever before, from customer records and financial reports to intellectual property. Yet the Fortinet 2025 Data Security Report shows that legacy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools are increasingly failing to protect this information in today’s cloud-driven, AI-enabled environments. For New Zealand SMBs, enterprises, government agencies, and critical infrastructure operators, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

Persistent Risk in the Modern Workplace

The report found that 77% of organisations experienced insider-related data loss in the past 18 months, with most incidents caused by accidental errors rather than malicious actors. In New Zealand’s tight-knit business ecosystem, such breaches can damage trust quickly and have lasting reputational impact. What’s more, 72% of organisations admitted they lack visibility into how users interact with sensitive data across endpoints and cloud services. That’s a major blind spot as Kiwi businesses increasingly adopt SaaS tools, AI platforms, and remote working models.

The High Cost of Data Exposure

Globally, 45% of organisations reported financial or revenue loss from data exposure, with 41% estimating damages between $1 million and $10 million for their most significant incident. While the dollar figures may differ in New Zealand, the impacts are just as serious: operational disruption, regulatory scrutiny, and erosion of public trust.

For industries such as healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, key pillars of New Zealand’s economy, the stakes are even higher when customer records, personal data, or proprietary designs are exposed.

Why Traditional DLP Falls Short

Traditional DLP tools focus on blocking data flows but fail to understand the context of user behaviour. Only 33% of organisations said they have immediate visibility into data usage, and just 27% could see which users were putting data at risk.

For New Zealand organisations, this means risk often goes undetected until it becomes a serious incident, whether that’s a staff member accidentally uploading sensitive files to a personal cloud, or AI tools being used without oversight.

What Security Leaders Want Next

According to the report, the top priorities for next-generation data protection include:
• Real-time behavioural analytics (66%)
• Day-one visibility into data flows (61%)
• Control over shadow AI and SaaS tools (52%)

These priorities align closely with the needs of New Zealand businesses, where rapid cloud adoption and increasing use of AI are reshaping how data is created, stored, and shared.

Nextro’s insights for New Zealand

The report highlights a clear shift: effective data protection must evolve from static enforcement to context-driven insight. For New Zealand organisations, the priority is not creating more alerts but gaining clarity around who is moving sensitive data, why it is happening, and whether the activity poses real risk.

By aligning Fortinet’s next-generation DLP and insider risk management capabilities with local requirements, Nextro identifies a pathway for New Zealand businesses to strengthen visibility, reduce the likelihood of accidental exposure, and build resilience against insider-driven incidents.

Contact Nextro today for a data security assessment and for building a modern data protection strategy that keeps your business secure in an AI-driven, hybrid world.

Read THE FULL REPORT HERE

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New Zealand Faces Most Challenging Security Environment in Recent History

Nextro Marketing — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 01:42:59 +0000

New Zealand Faces Most Challenging Security Environment in Recent History

The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has released its 2025 Threat Environment Report, revealing that the country is confronting its most complex national security landscape in decades.

Despite our geographic isolation in the South Pacific, New Zealand remains firmly in the crosshairs of sophisticated international threats.
See Nextro’s summary of the report below.

Six Critical Security Assessments for 2025

The NZSIS makes six key assessments about New Zealand’s
threat environment in 2025:

Lone actor terrorist attacks – The most plausible violent extremist attack scenario remains a lone actor who has radicalised online and prepares for violence without intelligence forewarning, likely using easily accessible weapons
Online-driven extremist support – Grievances and polarising issues in online spaces are almost certainly driving support for a range of violent extremist ideologies, with no single ideology presenting a greater threat
Youth radicalisation risk – Young and vulnerable people are particularly at risk of radicalisation, especially while online
Active foreign interference – Multiple states are conducting foreign interference activities, including transnational repression targeting diaspora communities
Undetected espionage – It is almost certain there is undetected espionage activity harming New Zealand’s national interests, with foreign states continuing to target critical organisations, infrastructure and technology
Insider exploitation – Some foreign states have attempted to exploit people inside public and private sector organisations through deceptive, corruptive, or coercive means

The Threat Landscape

The report reveals that a terrorist attack remains a “realistic possibility,” with young and vulnerable New Zealanders particularly at risk of online radicalisation. Foreign interference activities continue across multiple fronts, with several states actively targeting New Zealand. The People’s Republic of China remains the most active, though it’s not the only concern. These activities include transnational repression targeting diaspora communities, particularly those from certain religions, ethnicities, Rainbow communities, and pro-democracy movements.

The Global Context

Three global themes are driving these security challenges: strategic competition between major powers (particularly involving the US, China, and Russia), increasingly polarised and violent online rhetoric, and rapid technological advancement that’s both creating opportunities and vulnerabilities.

The report emphasises that while New Zealand may seem distant from global security hotspots, our economic connectedness, diverse society, and strategic location in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific region make us a target for states seeking power and influence.

Looking Forward

The NZSIS stresses that while threats cannot always be eliminated, risks can be managed through awareness and robust security practices. The agency continues to call for public vigilance, encouraging New Zealanders to report concerning behaviour through their online portal at nzsis.govt.nz.

As global instability continues and shared international values degrade, the report makes clear that foreign interference and espionage activities are likely to intensify. For a nation that has long prided itself on being safely removed from international conflicts, this assessment serves as a sobering reminder that in our interconnected world, no country is truly isolated from global security challenges.

The full report provides detailed protective security advice for organisations and communities, emphasising that national security is increasingly everyone’s responsibility in this challenging new environment.

Whether you manage a crowded place, critical infrastructure, large retail, hospitality or logistics environment, contact Nextro today to discuss your protective security requirements.

Download a full copy of the report below.

New Zealand Security Environment Threat Report 2025

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New Biometric Processing Privacy Code for New Zealand 2025

Nextro Marketing — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 03:26:15 +0000

New Biometric Processing Privacy Code for New Zealand 2025

A major update for biometric security solutions in New Zealand

On 21 July 2025, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in New Zealand announced the release of the Biometric Processing Privacy Code 2025. This is a significant milestone in regulating how biometric technologies, such as facial recognition, are used across New Zealand. The Code introduces specific rules for organisations collecting, using, and processing biometric information.

The new Code reinforces the importance of privacy in an era where biometric authentication is rapidly expanding across sectors, from critical infrastructure and public venues to private enterprise. It will be interesting to see how it is interpreted and whether it fits all use cases. Nextro recommends its customers to take note and follow the new code.

The Biometric Processing Privacy Code 2025 outlines how biometric information, such as facial features or iris scans, must be managed under the Privacy Act. It applies to technologies used to identify individuals or to learn about them, and sets expectations for transparency, necessity, fairness, and accountability in the use of these technologies.

Key Obligations for New Zealand Businesses:

For New Zealand organisations using biometric systems, including facial recognition cameras and biometric access control, the Code introduces the following key obligations.

Transparency: Businesses must ensure people know when their biometric information is being collected. Clear, accessible signage and privacy statements must be visible at the point of collection.
Purpose limitation: Biometric data must only be collected for specific, lawful purposes. The use must be necessary for that purpose and not collected ‘just in case’.
Necessity and proportionality: Organisations must assess whether less privacy-intrusive options exist before using biometric tech. If a swipe card or PIN can reasonably meet the same purpose, biometric use may not be justified.
Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs): A PIA is required for any biometric processing activity, documenting risks and mitigations. This is mandatory and should be completed prior to deployment.
Consent and alternatives: In many cases, particularly in workplaces or public access scenarios, individuals must be offered a genuine alternative to biometric enrolment, unless an exemption applies.
Special restrictions: Certain uses, like real-time facial recognition in public, or profiling individuals based on biometric data, are considered high-risk, and face stricter scrutiny under the Code.

The Code comes into effect on 3 November 2025 with new systems deployed after that date having to be compliant. A grace period for existing biometric systems, in operation prior to 3 November 2025, gives operators until 3 August 2026 to meet the updated compliance standards. New systems will need to be compliant from 3 November 2025.

This timeframe is short and likely insufficient for large organisations. Nextro recommends that business start early to ensure sufficient time to assess and align their technologies, policies, and processes.

Nextro will continue to work closely with its technology partners and customers to ensure that our evolving biometric solutions are capable of meeting the requirements of the Code.

We encourage all businesses using or considering biometric technologies to familiarise themselves with the Code.

Please reach out to the Nextro team to discuss our face recognition, iris recognition, and finger print biometric access control solutions.

For more information:

Read a Summary of the biometric processing privacy Code Read the biometric Processing privacy Code See Factsheets for an overview of the code Read Guidance on the code Contact us to Find out more

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