January 8, 2024 at 08:26AM
The British Library is disputing reports of potentially $9 million recovery costs from a 2023 ransomware attack, with final costs unconfirmed. The attack caused significant disruption, with various systems offline. The recovery process could take several months, impacting services and payments to authors. The library will issue updates on its progress.
The British Library is currently in the process of recovering from a significant ransomware attack that occurred in October 2023. The recovery costs have been the subject of reports, with initial predictions suggesting it could reach nearly $9 million. However, these costs remain unconfirmed, and the library has not yet made additional bids for funding to support the rebuild.
The cyber attack has resulted in widespread disruption, with various systems at British Library sites in London and Yorkshire offline. The recovery process is ongoing, and there is no estimated completion date at this time.
As a result of the attack, many services, including the online catalog, have remained unavailable to library users. The library is working on building stop-gap workarounds to restore a level of operation to key services.
The Public Lending Right (PLR) service, which pays authors when their works are borrowed, has also been affected by the cyber attack-related disruption. Irish recipients are currently experiencing indefinite delays to payments. The disruption has also impacted authors’ ability to register for PLR payments.
The British Library is actively working on restoring its services, including the PLR service, and aims to issue further updates with finalized timelines. The recovery process is expected to take several months, and the library remains in close contact with its government sponsor, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Additionally, the library is continuing to analyze the leaked files resulting from the attack and has stated that there is currently no evidence to suggest the leakage of identity documents or financial information. The Metropolitan Police and National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) are providing ongoing support to the library through its recovery and post-mortem of the incident.