The New Zealand stock exchange NZX has been under attack by hackers for the third day. To stop the attack, the attackers demand a ransom in bitcoins.
Hackers overload the exchange’s communication channels and interfere with its normal operation. They stepped up their attack this morning and the NZX was unable to start trading on time. In addition, trading was closed for an hour on Tuesday and three hours on Wednesday. At the same time, the trading volume on the New Zealand stock market is estimated at $ 135 billion. NZX does not disclose the source of the attack, but, according to Bloomberg, the attack is being carried out from abroad.
“We continue to fight this threat and work with computer security experts. We are doing everything in our power to resume trading tomorrow ”, – said the representatives of the stock exchange.
The attack was launched at the most inconvenient moment for the exchange, as many New Zealand companies are now issuing financial statements, including the national airline Air New Zealand. At the same time, representatives of the exchange emphasize that the internal network of NZX was not compromised, as well as trading information.
Back in November last year, New Zealand’s state cybersecurity agency CERT NZ reported that companies operating in the financial sector were receiving DDoS threats and ransom letters. Interestingly, the letters were apparently sent by members of the Russian hacker group Fancy Bear / Cozy Bear. CERT NZ did not comment on the current attack.
The DDoS attack was also reported by the Korean Stock Exchange, stating that the attack caused the exchange to become inoperable for 3 hours.
In March, during a massive fall in the cryptocurrency market, the popular derivatives exchange BitMEX was subjected to a DDoS attack. As a result, the site paid out $ 200,000 to affected traders.
