WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said on Sunday it was responding urgently to a breach of one of its data systems.
A statement illegally accessed a third-party file-sharing service used by the central bank to share and store sensitive information.
RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr said the gap had been contained, but added that it would take time to understand the full implications of this gap.
“The nature and scope of the information that has been accessed is still being determined, but it may include commercial and personally sensitive information,” Orr said in a statement.
In August, the New Zealand stock exchange operator was hit by cyberattacks. InPhySec, an independent cybersecurity company tasked with reviewing cyberattacks, said the volume, sophistication and persistence of the attacks were unprecedented for New Zealand.
In a November 2019 financial stability report, RBNZ warned that the frequency and severity of cybersecurity incidents were increasing in New Zealand.
In February last year, the bank said in a report that the expected cost of cyber incidents for the banking and insurance industry ranged from A $ 80 million to A $ 140 million in the UK. ‘year.
“The most extreme events have a low probability, but are still plausible,” the bank said in the report.
($ 1 = $ 1,3808)
Report by Praveen Menon in Wellington and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Edited by William Mallard