New Zealand’s stock exchange halts trading for third day in a row

Trading was halted on New Zealand’s stock exchange on Thursday for a third day in a row following a cyber attack earlier in the week. 

Bourse operator New Zealand’s Exchange said trading in its cash markets stopped at around 11:10 a.m. local time due to network connectivity issues relating to this week’s cyber attacks. It then made the decision to not re-open the NZX Main Board, the NZX Debt Market and Fonterra Shareholders’ Market for the rest of the trading day and closed the NZX Derivatives Market. 

“This decision not to re-open has been made while we focus on addressing the situation. We continue to address the threat and work with cybersecurity experts, and we are doing everything we can to resume normal trading tomorrow (28 August),” NZX said in a statement on its website. 

NZX said on Tuesday it experienced a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack from overseas through its network service provider, disrupting the final hour of trading in its cash markets. Its websites and the markets announcement platform were also affected.

A day later, it said it faced disruptions from a similar attack, which halted trading at 11:24 a.m. local time until 3 p.m. 

DDoS attacks are among the simplest forms of cyber attacks to execute. It involves delivering a heavy stream of information and internet traffic, usually with the help of a network of hacked computers, to overwhelm the systems of a target. 

NZX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s emailed request for comments.