New Zealand leads Five Eyes in government email security

A new study by SMX Email reveals that New Zealand is leading the Five Eyes intelligence alliance in implementing a critical security measure to protect government emails during delivery. The SMX Email Security Report found that 55% of New Zealand’s core government email domains actively enforce this measure, significantly higher than the 0.9% reported in the United States.

The findings coincide with the New Zealand government’s transition from the aging SEEMail system to the new Secure Government Email (SGE) framework, a decommissioning process expected to conclude by November. While the shift marks a significant improvement in digital infrastructure, experts warn that remaining gaps in the system could still allow attackers to intercept information exchanged between agencies, businesses, and the public.

The research analyzed 1,940 domains within the official government namespaces of New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States to compare the adoption of these email protection standards.