Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Thursday, January 21, 2021

If It Can Happen To Institutions Like This Then No One Seems Safe!

This appeared last week:

New Zealand Reserve Bank urgently responding to 'illegal data breach'

By Tom Pullar-Strecker

January 10, 2021 — 1.55pm

Wellington: New Zealand's Reserve Bank says it is “responding with urgency” to a computer system breach.

The bank issued a statement shortly after 2pm (New Zealand time) on Sunday saying a “third party file sharing service” used by the bank to share and store some sensitive information, had been illegally accessed.

Governor Adrian Orr said the breach had been contained, but the bank was treating the matter with “the highest priority, and acting with urgency”.

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

Orr said the system had been “secured” and taken offline until the bank had 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 accessed. Our core functions remain sound and operational,” he said.

A government spokesman said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Finance Minister Grant Robertson and GCSB Minister Andrew Little had been notified of the breach, but said ministers were leaving comment to the Reserve Bank.

More here:

https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/new-zealand-reserve-bank-urgently-responding-to-illegal-data-breach-20210110-p56t05.html

There is also coverage here:

Data risk after RBNZ hit by cyber attack

Cliona O’Dowd

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is urgently investigating a breach of one of its data systems after a third-party file sharing service used by the bank was illegally accessed.

The third-party service was used to share and store sensitive information, the central bank said in a statement.

RBNZ governor Adrian Orr said the breach had been contained, and the bank was treating the matter at the highest priority.

“We are working closely with domestic and international cyber security experts and other relevant authorities as part of our investigation and response to this malicious attack.

“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,” he said.

The system had since been secured and taken offline until the central bank completed our initial investigations, he said.

“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. Our core functions remain sound and operational.”

An RBNZ spokesman has been contacted for further comment.

The frequency of cyberattacks around the globe has surged over the past year, with an increasing number of corporate and public sector entities the victims of such breaches.

More here:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/data-risk-after-rbnz-hit-by-cyber-attack/news-story/a4e1298cbb03add610f6c1c09a275eb6

I guess this sort of attack just goes to show that no-one can be confident they will not be attacked and or breached no matter how big or small.

This surely is going to be an ongoing battle, just like the one against SPAM which I reckon most of us feel we are losing!

David.

 

No comments: