Frequently Asked Questions
These are some questions we frequently see coming up in conversations. Send us yours and it might make it onto this list for others to read.
Yes, and it’s growing fast. Cybercriminals are now using AI to launch attacks that are faster, more convincing, and harder to spot. NZ research from 2025 found that attacks using AI-related techniques more than doubled in a single year. That said, AI is also used in the tools that defend you — including the next-gen antivirus we include in MarksmenPRO_3.6.5. The key is making sure your defences are keeping up with the threat.
Much more dangerous. Traditional phishing emails were often easy to spot — bad grammar, obvious fakes, generic greetings. AI-generated phishing can now write a convincing, personalised email in seconds, tailored to your business and your staff’s names. It can even mimic the writing style of someone you know. AI-fuelled scams and phishing have surged in New Zealand. A secure email gateway — which we include in MarksmenPRO_3.6.5 — helps filter these out before they reach your inbox.
Deepfakes use AI to generate fake audio or video that looks and sounds real. Scammers use them to impersonate a business owner or manager — calling staff and asking them to transfer money or hand over passwords. It’s already happening to NZ businesses. The best protection is a clear internal process: any request involving money or credentials should always be verified through a second, separate channel before anyone acts on it. We can help you put that kind of process in place.
AI tools can genuinely help your team work faster — but they come with real risks if there are no rules around them. The biggest concern is data. If a staff member pastes client information, financial data, or confidential files into a public AI tool, that data is sent to an overseas server and may be used to train the AI. Under NZ’s Privacy Act 2020, you’re responsible for how that data is handled. A simple AI use policy is a good starting point — we can help you think through the right approach for your business.
Most AI tools process and store your data on overseas servers — usually in the US. That raises two issues: first, your data may be subject to foreign laws; second, if it contains personal information about your clients or staff, you have obligations under NZ’s Privacy Act 2020. At Marksmen IT, we use our own locally owned and managed infrastructure, so your business data stays in New Zealand. That’s not something every IT provider can say.
Traditional antivirus works by recognising known threats — it matches files against a list of known bad things. AI-powered endpoint protection goes further. It watches how programs behave on your devices and flags anything acting suspiciously, even if it’s never been seen before. This matters because new threats appear constantly, and old-style antivirus can’t keep up. It’s included in MarksmenPRO_3.6.5 for exactly this reason — if something unusual is happening on your devices, it catches it early.
Not yet — and probably not in the way that matters most. AI can handle routine tasks like resetting passwords or answering basic questions. What it can’t do is understand your specific business, build a relationship with your team, make judgment calls in a crisis, or take responsibility when something goes wrong. For small NZ businesses, having a real person who knows your setup and responds fast is still the thing that makes the biggest difference. AI is a useful tool in our toolkit — but it doesn’t replace the human behind it.
A few practical steps go a long way. First, use a secure email gateway to filter AI-crafted phishing before it reaches staff. Second, set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) so stolen passwords alone aren’t enough to get in. Third, run a short training session with your team — knowing what AI scams look like makes people much harder to fool. Finally, have a clear rule: any urgent request for money or access must be confirmed by phone before anyone acts. We cover the technical side through MarksmenPRO_3.6.5 and can help with the rest.
It’s more common than you think — research shows roughly one in ten employees has pasted company data into an AI tool. Banning AI outright rarely works; people find workarounds. A better approach is to set clear, simple rules about what’s OK and what isn’t, and to offer approved tools where appropriate. Start by finding out what your team is actually using, then work out a policy that keeps the business safe without slowing people down. We’ve helped other NZ businesses do exactly this.
Yes. The next-gen antivirus and remote monitoring tools included in MarksmenPRO_3.6.5 use AI to detect threats and spot unusual behaviour on your devices — faster than traditional tools can. We use AI where it genuinely helps protect you. What we don’t do is replace human judgement with it. When something needs a real decision, or when you pick up the phone, you get a person — not a bot.
This is one of the most common things we hear — and unfortunately it’s not true. AI has made it cheap and easy for attackers to target thousands of businesses at once. Small businesses are often easier targets precisely because they don’t have the same defences as larger companies. The good news is that solid, affordable protection is available. You don’t need an enterprise IT team — you just need the right setup, which is exactly what MarksmenPRO_3.6.5 provides.
If you’re still relying on basic antivirus, no multi-factor authentication, and no managed monitoring, the honest answer is: it probably isn’t. The threat landscape has moved fast in the last couple of years. We offer a free IT health check where we take a look at your current setup and give you a straight answer about where the gaps are — no sales pressure, just an honest assessment. Get in touch here.