[BreachExchange] New Zealand Central Bank Says Data System Hacked

[Destry Winant]

https://time.com/5928383/new-zealand-central-bank-hacked/

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand’s central bank said Sunday that
one of its data systems has been breached by an unidentified hacker
who potentially accessed commercially and personally sensitive
information.

A third party file sharing service used by the Reserve Bank of New
Zealand to share and store sensitive information had been illegally
accessed, the Wellington-based bank said in a statement.

Governor Adrian Orr said the breach has been contained. The bank’s
core functions “remain sound and operational,” he said.

“We are working closely with domestic and international cybersecurity
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 has been potentially
accessed is still being determined, but it may include some
commercially and personally sensitive information,” Orr added.

The system had been secured and taken offline until the bank completes
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
accessed,” Orr said.

The bank declined to answer emailed questions seeking more details.

It’s unclear when the breach took place or if there were any
indications of who was responsible, and in what country is the file
sharing service based.

Several major organizations in New Zealand have been the target of
cyber interference in the past year, including the New Zealand Stock
Exchange, which had its servers knocked out of public view for nearly
a week in August.

Dave Parry, professor of computer science at Auckland University, told
Radio New Zealand that another government was likely behind the bank
data breach.

“Ultimately if you were coming from a sort of like criminal
perspective, the government agencies aren’t going to pay your ransom
or whatever, so you’d be more interested probably coming in from a
government-to-government level,” Parry said.