- Posted July 17, 2020
- Media Releases
The Director-General of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Andrew Hampton is aware of the cyber-security advisory issued by the United Kingdom, United States and Canada regarding state sponsored malicious cyber activity targeting organisations involved in COVID-19 vaccine development.
Cyber activity that undermines national or international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic is deplorable, and we reiterate our call for all cyber actors to refrain from such behaviour.
Mr Hampton has previously spoken on behalf of the New Zealand Government to condemn international reports of cyber-actors targeting systems and infrastructure central to the pandemic response in a number of countries.
While the GCSB has not seen examples of New Zealand’s critical infrastructure being compromised by COVID-19 themed state-sponsored malicious activity, this latest advisory by overseas partners is very concerning.
Mr Hampton says New Zealand is not immune from such malicious cyber-activity and the GCSB, along with other agencies, continues to provide support and assistance to New Zealand organisations.
We encourage organisations to maintain a high level of cyber-security resilience and awareness.
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Background:
The GCSB’s National Cyber Security Centre(external link) has the specific role of helping protect New Zealand organisations of national significance from advanced, persistent cyber security threats and issues a range of advice publicly to assist organisations in detecting and disrupting malicious cyber activity.
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