NEWS
Experts warn of threat to critical infrastructure following New Zealand stock exchange attack
Equinix expands to India with acquisition of GPX India
Equinix , the global interconnection and data center company , has announced its expansion into India through the acquisition of the India operations of GPX Global Systems . The acquisition will extend Platform Equinix to India with the addition of two world-class , highly interconnected data centers , providing a platform for additional expansion across the country .
Equinix customers will have access to a network-dense data center campus with more than 200 international brands and local companies .
Both data centers are strategically located in Mumbai , home to the critical IT infrastructure of numerous global organizations and with international connectivity serviced by subsea cables at landing sites located nearby . cybersecurity attack on the New
A Zealand stock exchange has led two cybersecurity experts to underline its impact on critical infrastructure .
In a statement , the stock market blamed the attack on overseas hackers , saying that it had “ experienced a volumetric DDoS attack from offshore via its network service provider , which impacted NZX network connectivity .”
Cath Goulding , CISO of Nominet , said : “ The DDoS attack on the New Zealand stock exchange is an incredibly serious incident that shows just how much havoc hackers can cause on a national scale , even with attack techniques that are relatively well known .
“ There are suggestions that nation state hackers are behind this attack . Whether they are or not , it demonstrates how cybercrime can hit right at the heart of a country ’ s operation .
“ While a stock exchange might not be what we traditionally consider to be ‘ critical national infrastructure ’ - it is critical to the economy . Any downtime at all is putting millions of dollars at stake and in this instance , it was brought offline two days in a row .
John Hultquist , Senior Director of Analysis , Mandiant Threat Intelligence , said : “ The incident in New Zealand underscores the threat of disruption to critical financial infrastructure .
“ Destructive or disruptive attacks against exchanges could have cascading effects across the economy and ultimately this approach may be more successful than attacks on the energy sector and other industries .”
Charles Meyers , President and CEO , Equinix , said : “ India represents the second largest Internet user base in the world , with consumption expected to grow with the continued advancement of Internet infrastructure , smartphone ownership and the penetration of 4G and 5G .
“ Extending Platform Equinix to India has long been a strategic objective for Equinix and we are excited that the GPX transaction will allow us to capitalize on this market opportunity and meet the needs of our customers as they seek to expand their digital businesses .”
The all-cash transaction value of the acquisition is US $ 161 million and it is expected to close in Q1 2021 .
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