New Zealand bourse says markets to open as usual after last week's cyber attacks

[BENGALURU] New Zealand's stock exchange said markets were expected to open as usual on Monday, after a series of cyber attacks, described as the largest seen in the country, hit the bourse's ability to operate normally for four consecutive days.

NZX Ltd faced disruptions for four days last week causing trading to halt in its cash markets and disruptions in its debt market.

"NZX 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," the bourse said in a statement on Monday.

The bourse was hit on Tuesday and Wednesday last week by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, a common way to disrupt a server by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic, forcing it to halt trading and disrupting operations in its debt market, Fonterra Shareholders Market and derivatives market.

NZX is working with its network's service provider, Spark, government cybersecurity agencies, and a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Akamai Technologies to implement additional security measures, it said.

REUTERS