WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand’s central bank said on Sunday that one of its data systems had been breached by an unidentified hacker who may have gained access to commercial and personally sensitive information.
There is illegal access to a third-party file-sharing service used by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to share and store sensitive information, the bank in Wellington said in a statement.
Governor Adrian Orr said the violation was limited. The bank’s core functions “remain healthy and operational”, he said.
“We are working closely with local and international cyber security experts and other relevant authorities as part of our investigation and response to this malicious attack,” Orr said.
“The nature and extent of information that may have been obtained is still being determined, but it may include commercially and personally sensitive information,” Orr added.
The system was secured and taken offline until the bank completed its initial investigations.
“It will take time to understand the full implications of this breach and we are working with system users whose information may have been obtained,” Orr said.
The bank did not want to answer questions via email and is looking for more details.
It is unclear when the violation took place and whether there were any indications as to who was responsible and in what country the file sharing service is based.
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Several major organizations in New Zealand have been the target of cyber interference in recent years, including the New Zealand Stock Exchange, which had its servers out of the public eye for nearly a week in August.
Dave Parry, professor of computer science at the University of Auckland, told Radio New Zealand that another government was probably behind the breach of bank data.
“Ultimately, if you come from a kind of criminal perspective, the government agencies will not pay your ransom or whatever, so you will be more interested in probably coming in from government-to-government level,” Parry said. .