The Reserve
Bank of New Zealand has been hit by a cyber attack, AFP reported. The
bank said that it was responding to a “malicious” breach of one of its data
systems, a third-party file sharing service that stored “sensitive
information.”

The
bank’s governor Adrian Orr
said the breach had been contained and the system was taken offline. Investigation
was ongoing to determine what information had been accessed.

“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, AFP reported.

“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.
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,” he
added.

According to the
government agency, Computer Emergency Response Team’s recent report, cyber
attacks had increased 33 percent year-on-year in the country.