NZ news websites targeted by cyber attacks

News websites Stuff and RNZ have revealed they were the target of a cyber attack but say it was unsuccessful and their sites remain secure.

• This story was first published by RNZ

Stuff said it contacted the GCSB who gave it advice around protections and urged the company to contact other media outlets to let them know so they could be on the look out.

A spokesperson for Stuff said it was a Distributed Denial of Service attack but was successfully defended and the website was back to "business as usual".

A second media outlet - RNZ - has confirmed it's been the target of cyber attack in the last 24 hours.

RNZ says it understands it may have been by the same group that has been targeting the New Zealand Stock Exchange and is currently investigating.

A spokesperson said there was more than one attack, but the RNZ site remained secure and the audience was not affected.