Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Fascinating report on British Library cyber-attack
I'm sure that most of us are aware of the ransomware cyber-attack by the Rhysidia* gang on the British Library in October last year. I've taken more of an interest than many might because my research activities have been affected. I also have a colleague who was formally a senior member of staff at the Library and he has underlined the seriousness of the attack to me.
The Library has still not recovered. Personally this meant that just this week, two physical copies of journals I'd been hoping to access are unavailable because the storage area they're kept in was automated and the collections are still inaccessible.
Today, I came across a report from March this year by the Library abut the attack and its implications. Even if you have no reason to be much interested in the Library itself, it makes interesting reading as a case-syudy in how these things happen and the devastating effects they can have.
Much of the report reads like the outline of a film. Apparently the most damaging part of the attack was caused by a part of the attackers programme which destroyed substantial portions of the Library's server estate as an anti-forensics measure.
Report attached below - worth a skim read at the very least.
*A name taken from a type of centipede
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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From a BL blog dated 30 July - books nearly there, newspapers/journals further off - sorry Hugh!
Collection items held in Boston Spa
As regular users of our Reading Rooms will know, there are still two important parts of our physical collection at Boston Spa that have not yet been restored to use, both of which are held in automated storage facilities whose systems were affected by the attack: the 262 kilometres of books held in our Automated Storage Building (ASB), and our physical newspaper collection housed in the National Newspaper Building.
Work to restore access to ASB content is now nearly complete, although availability in our Reading Rooms is now expected to re-commence in August, rather than July as previously reported.
In my last blog I was more cautious about the timetable for restoration of access to the National Newspaper Building, but I’m pleased to report that since then, significant progress has been made in restoring the automated system that enables access to this vast collection. We are, therefore, proceeding with work to restore the service, and will provide a timetable for availability as soon as this is confirmed.
Once both of these collections are opened up, the entirety of our physical collection, with only very few exceptions, will once again be available to Readers in Boston Spa and St Pancras.
Full blog here - https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2024/07/restoring-our-services...
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Following your post, Gordon, I replied to their email to me and they came back with,
I cannot confirm that all our online and collection requesting services will be restored this month.
We are hoping to gain access and paper ticket ordering of books and journals in Building 31 later this month, where we hold our pre-2013 science books and journals, but until it actually happens I cannot guarantee it.
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Thanks for sharing. I read this earlier in the year with great interest - I feel usually organisations would keep this under wraps, but since the BL is publicly funded they must have an obligation to publish.
Personally, the British Library has been a great resource to me as I researched and wrote large sections of my book there.
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