Experts have revealed the reasons why recovery takes so long.
At the end of 2023, the British Library faced a serious cyberattack by the Rhysida group, which led to the theft of 600 GB of data and the destruction of many of the institution's servers. Previously, the library stated that the full restoration of its services may be completed only by the end of 2024.
A new report from the library highlights that a significant part of the difficulties in eliminating the consequences of the attack was caused by outdated IT infrastructure, which is associated with system recovery problems and lack of support from suppliers.
The report points to a "historically complex network topology" as one of the factors that allowed attackers to gain wide access to the library's networks and systems. It is indicated that outdated systems depended on less secure data processing processes, which led to access by attackers to a large amount of data.
The report highlights the importance of updating infrastructure and applications to reduce security risks. The library notes that it took all possible measures to limit the attack, but still suffered serious damage.
One of the reasons for using outdated systems was the regulatory requirements for library fees (Non-Print Works) from 2013, which forced the library to allocate a significant part of its budget to mandatory services, leaving less money for upgrading its IT infrastructure.
As a result of the attack, almost all library services were seriously disrupted, including access to Wi-Fi and payment terminals. Although the library remained open during the incident, many of its key services remain restricted.
The British Library is now paying more attention to cloud technologies and plans to significantly increase their use in the next 18 months. At the same time, the report mentions the overloaded technical team and possible problems with attracting highly qualified IT specialists due to the remuneration policy.
In order to modernize its IT infrastructure, the library has revised its future budgets. The report also contains a number of lessons learned from the incident, which will be taken into account by the institution in the future to improve the level of IT security and cyber defense.
At the end of 2023, the British Library faced a serious cyberattack by the Rhysida group, which led to the theft of 600 GB of data and the destruction of many of the institution's servers. Previously, the library stated that the full restoration of its services may be completed only by the end of 2024.
A new report from the library highlights that a significant part of the difficulties in eliminating the consequences of the attack was caused by outdated IT infrastructure, which is associated with system recovery problems and lack of support from suppliers.
The report points to a "historically complex network topology" as one of the factors that allowed attackers to gain wide access to the library's networks and systems. It is indicated that outdated systems depended on less secure data processing processes, which led to access by attackers to a large amount of data.
The report highlights the importance of updating infrastructure and applications to reduce security risks. The library notes that it took all possible measures to limit the attack, but still suffered serious damage.
One of the reasons for using outdated systems was the regulatory requirements for library fees (Non-Print Works) from 2013, which forced the library to allocate a significant part of its budget to mandatory services, leaving less money for upgrading its IT infrastructure.
As a result of the attack, almost all library services were seriously disrupted, including access to Wi-Fi and payment terminals. Although the library remained open during the incident, many of its key services remain restricted.
The British Library is now paying more attention to cloud technologies and plans to significantly increase their use in the next 18 months. At the same time, the report mentions the overloaded technical team and possible problems with attracting highly qualified IT specialists due to the remuneration policy.
In order to modernize its IT infrastructure, the library has revised its future budgets. The report also contains a number of lessons learned from the incident, which will be taken into account by the institution in the future to improve the level of IT security and cyber defense.
