The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has reported a breach of one of its data systems that is used by the bank to share and store private information, according to its press release published on Sunday.
The breach has been contained and the bank is now looking into the incident with 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”, Governor of New Zealand's Reserve Bank Adrian Orr said.
He added that it would take time to fully understand the implications of the breach. As of now, the bank is in contact with the system’s users whose information was reportedly accessed.
"Our core functions remain sound and operational", Orr concluded.
The hackers could have been acting on behalf of a foreign government, as it was significant, Radio New Zeeland cited Dave Parry, a computer science professor at Auckland University, as saying.
"Because 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", he said.
Last year, New Zealand faced a series of cyber-attacks on its stock exchange and numerous corporate targets, including banks and media companies. The attacks were thought to have originated overseas, prompting the government to call in the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and activate security crisis plans to protect the country from data breaches.