Why did Privacy Commissioner issue compliance notice to RBNZ? 

New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner John Edwards has made use of his new power related to the Privacy Act 2020 and issued a compliance notice to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to report on improvements made by the bank since a cyber-attack in December 2020. 

Source: Copyright © 2021 Kalkine Media  

It is noted that the said new Privacy Act came into being in December 2020. 

Some of the modifications under the new Act is to report any privacy breach to the Privacy Commission, and better focus on risk management, etc.  

Issue of compliance notice following the cyber-attack in 2020 

Last year, it was believed that hackers had compromised significant information supplied to the Reserve Bank by commercial banks after exploiting the vulnerability of the file-sharing application supplied by Accellion, wherein RBNZ receives confidential information from banks. 

Related Read: Cyber expert says some other government possibly tried to hack Reserve Bank 

As per Edwards, the said privacy attack was a major breach of the security systems of the Bank and hinted at the possible vulnerability of its systems and processes for protecting the personal information of its customers. 

Hence, a compliance notice has been served to the Reserve Bank regarding confirmation of its improvements in its policies and procedures to make its systems more secure and safe. 

The Bank has accepted the findings and is in the process of replying to the said notice.  

Also Read: Important steps to safeguard your business from cyber attacks 

Bottom Line 

As a regulator, the Privacy Commission is focusing on strengthening and better delivery of the privacy outcomes for the New Zealanders.