Collecting your information safely Te tiaki i ngā mōhiotanga mōu i runga i te haumaru

We know your information is important to you. That is why it is important to us to look after it.

The system we have built to collect the information provided on census forms is hosted on a secure service specifically certified for use by the New Zealand government.  

When you complete your census, the information you enter is encrypted and we will only unlock it once it is received by Stats NZ. When Stats NZ receives your data, your responses to questions are stored in data centres that are in the government private cloud.  

Suppliers that provide government private cloud services have been approved by the Department of Internal Affairs following an exhaustive evaluation process and are used by a significant number of other government agencies. Stats NZ also carries out its own rigorous selection and assurance processes for all cloud services used.  

Do others in my house see the information in my census form? 

Not unless you want them to see it. You do not have to complete your forms in front of other people. You can complete your form at any time during the census period. You will just need internet access if you are doing it online. 

Once you submit your form, no one outside Stats NZ can access the information in it. 

How do I know it is safe to give you my information on this website? 

You should check for two things to know you are on the official census website and that it is safe to enter your data in the online census form. 

Make sure you are on the right website
The address for the official census website is census.govt.nz. The address for the census online forms is online.census.govt.nz. 

If you are using a government website, check the web address you are using ends with “.govt.nz”. This means it is an official government website. Only New Zealand government departments can create government websites and they need permission from the Department of Internal Affairs to do so. 

Make sure you have a secure connection
Look for a padlock near the web address bar on your browser or click into the web address bar and check that the web address starts with https. You may need to click twice to see the full address. 

Having both of these things means the website you are using has a secure connection. When you send information through a website with a secure connection, it is encrypted.

How do you make sure it is safe to transmit my information to your servers? 

Before we allow individuals to send their online form responses over the internet, we verify the level of encryption on your device’s browser. The browser on the device must be using specific encryption standards so data can be securely transmitted and received on our end. 

Many more techniques have been built into our systems and processes to protect your information besides encryption, but we keep the details around those confidential for security purposes.