New Zealand’s central bank reported on Sunday that it was responding urgently to a ‘malicious’ breach of one of its data systems.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has announced that there is illegal access to a third-party sharing service used by the bank to share and store sensitive information.
Adrian Orr, governor of RBNZ, said the breach was limited and that the bank’s key functions “remained healthy and operational.”
“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 in a statement.
“The nature and extent of information that may have been obtained is still being determined, but it may include commercial and personally sensitive information,” he said.
Cyber attacks are on the rise
It is unclear when the offense took place, who was responsible and in what country the file sharing service is based. According to the bank, it will take time to understand the full implications of the offense.
In a report on Financial Stability in November 2019, the RBNZ warned that incidents involving cyber security in New Zealand were on the rise.
Several major organizations in New Zealand have been the target of cyberattacks in recent years. Last August, the New Zealand Stock Exchange was targeted by sustained DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service), which halted trading for four consecutive days.
In its latest report, the government agency CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) said that cyber attacks in the country have increased by 33% on an annual basis.
mvb / mm (AFP, AP, Reuters)