New Zealand Stock Exchange , NZX, has continued to face cyberattacks today but managed to continue trading with disruptions in few services.
Trading services on the stock exchange continued 'without a blip' from 10 am local time. However, the attacks prevented the investors to see company announcements and even prices.
A spokesperson from the exchange also confirmed that it has arrived at a contingency arrangement with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) for the release of, and access to, the market announcements in case of any fresh attacks. However, the nature of the agreement was not revealed.
Not Ready for Handling Attacks of Such Scale
The NZX has been suffering from the distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since last Tuesday for the last four trading sessions, which significantly impacted its services. This type of attack floods the servers with bogus requests and thus interrupts its services.
According to many reports, the attacks are being made by the Russian hacker group Fancy Bear, which is behind many high-profile cyber hacks with alleged links to the Russian spy agency, and are said to be asking for a hefty ransom in Cryptocurrencies .
However, the exchange did not confirm its intention to cooperate with the hackers.
In the latest statement, NZX said that it “has been advised by independent cyber specialists that the attacks last week are among the largest, most well-resourced and sophisticated they have ever seen in New Zealand.”
NZX is working with several private agencies and cyber defense experts from Akamai Technologies to find a solution against the continued attacks on its systems.
Finance Magnates earlier reported that New Zealand’s communications security bureau (GCSB), which was formed to protect the country from any cyber-borne threats, also jumped in to protect the private organization from the attacks.
