Viruses of a different kind: bolstering central bank IT frameworks

It takes a lot for a central bank to admit it has made a mistake. But in June, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor, Adrian Orr, acknowledged “shortfalls” in the central bank’s processes, after a cyber attack led to a data breach at the start of the year.

Orr said the breach could have been avoided if the third-party service provider compromised during the incident had notified the central bank sooner. For a five-day period, the RBNZ was unaware its systems were compromised, even though