Share Trading Resumes Today After Cyber Attack Halt
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) has announced that regular share trading will resume today, Tuesday, after resolving the issue at the Data Hub Pvt. Ltd. data center. On Monday, the entire market was closed after a ransomware attack disrupted the Trading Management System (TMS) of 72 broker companies. SEBON has initiated an investigation into the incident.
Kathmandu. The Nepali share market, which was completely halted for a day due to a cyber attack, is set to reopen today, Tuesday.
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) has informed that the problem at the data center of Data Hub Pvt. Ltd. has been resolved, and regular trading will be conducted through the Trading Management System (TMS) of 72 broker companies.
According to NEPSE, share trading will take place during the regular hours from 11 AM to 3 PM today.
After a ransomware attack on the infrastructure hosted at Data Hub, the TMS of 72 broker companies could not operate on Monday. Although 90 broker companies are currently active in the market, most brokers have been using the common TMS developed by Vai Co. Pvt. Ltd. Its backup and infrastructure management is handled by Data Hub Pvt. Ltd.
Ransomware Threat Behind 'Technical Problem'
- NEPSE closed at the request of brokers
- SEBON has started an investigation
- The data center hosting the systems of 72 out of 92 brokers was affected
- SEBON has formed a five-member team and asked NEPSE to submit a report within seven days
Data Hub had informed Vai Co. about the attack on Sunday morning. As there was a risk that the attack could spread to other connected networks and systems, the affected infrastructure was immediately isolated.
Data Hub had informed that a complete backup of all infrastructure had been taken before the attack and kept securely separate. After that, the technical team proceeded with security testing, forensic analysis, and restoration of the system.
Some broker companies had their systems in different data centers, so they were in a position to conduct trading. However, since trading through only a limited number of brokers would create unequal access among investors, the entire market was closed on Monday.
With the data center issue resolved, NEPSE has decided to resume trading for all investors from today. However, a detailed technical report on the actual scope of the attack, the affected systems, and whether any data was damaged is yet to be made public.
This incident has raised serious questions about the shared digital infrastructure, backup systems, and cyber security preparedness used in Nepal's capital market.