On Sunday, New Zealand’s central bank reported that it responded urgently to a “malicious” breach of one of its data systems.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has announced unlawful access to a third-party file-sharing service used by the bank to share and store certain sensitive information.
RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr said the breach was limited and the bank’s key functions “remain healthy and operational.”
“We are working closely with national and international cybersecurity 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 the information that may have been accessed is still being determined, but it may contain commercially and personally sensitive information,” he said.
Cyber attacks are on the rise
It’s unclear when the breach occurred, who was responsible, and in which country the file-sharing service is located. It takes time to understand the full implications of the breach, the bank said.
In a November 2019 Financial Stability report, the RBNZ warned that cybersecurity incidents in New Zealand are on the rise.
Several large organizations in New Zealand have been the target of cyber attacks in the past year. Last August, the New Zealand Stock Exchange was the target of ongoing DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, which shut down trading for four consecutive days.
In its latest report, the government agency CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) said cyber attacks in the country have increased by 33% year on year.
mvb / mm (AFP, AP, Reuters)