The British Library has taken a big step towards recovery from the cyber attack it suffered last year, announcing that its main catalog will finally be restored.
The attack on the library occurred in October last year and caused major disruptions to all library services. This was quickly affirmed by the Rhysida ransomware group, which posted a screenshot of sample data and listed the stolen data available for auction, giving the library a week to pay a ransom of £600,000 (approximately AU$1.14 million). ).
Now, almost three months after the incident, the British Library has said its main database, containing 36 million records, is being restored.
“As we begin a new year, I am pleased to confirm that, as promised before Christmas, next Monday, January 15, we will see the return online of one of the most important data sets for researchers around the world: the main catalog of the British Library. , including details of our printed books, magazines, maps, musical scores and rare books,” wrote library boss Sir Roly Keating, adding that there will be some difficulties as the restored data is in read-only mode.
“When the catalog returns, it will not be in the form that older users will be familiar with. Most notably, it will be ‘read-only’, so although you will be able to search for articles as before, the process for checking availability and ordering them for use in the reading rooms will be different.”
Additionally, Keating said he will also restore access to “most of the library’s key special collections,” which include unique items such as archives and manuscripts. At this stage, they will only be accessible on-site and offline.
While Keating reiterates that this is the first time since the incident that readers will be able to access most of the physical items on its St Pancras site, the full clean-up process could take more than a year.
“As positive as this news is, it is important to emphasize that there are still many steps ahead. “The broader program of full technical reconstruction and recovery from the attack will take time, and we look forward to listening to our users and the broader research community to ensure we have the right priorities in the coming months,” Keating added.
Keating also addressed the impact the disruption had on researchers and authors, delaying studies and restricting payments.
“It is also important, as we enter this crucial new phase of recovery, to say that we regret that over the past two months, researchers who depend for their studies and, in some cases, their livelihoods on access to library collections have been cut off. been deprived of it,” Keating added.
“We regret that despite all our efforts, we have not been able to protect some personal data of our users and our staff from being leaked by these hackers.”
Keating said the British Library is setting up alternative systems to ensure payments are made to authors “by the legal deadline at the end of March at the latest”, and said a schedule for payments will be published at the end of March. . month.
