The responsibility of the attack has been claimed by ransomware gang Rhysida. The group has listed the library as their victim over its darknet forum, where it has leaked the low resolution snippets of the stolen information. The gang is offering to auction the further information for 20 Bitcoin, or about £600,000, to the highest bidder.
As a result of the attacks, the library’s operations have been disrupted for weeks. The stolen data includes images of passport photos and HMRC employment records.
In the darknet website, the listing for the British Library reads, “With just seven days on the clock, seize the opportunity to bid on exclusive, unique and impressive data. Open your wallets and be ready to buy exclusive data.”
The aforementioned listing appeared on the website on Monday, where the group has demanded the ransom to be paid till November 27.
In regards to this, Emisoft’s threat analyst, Brett Callow says that the data “auction” was effectively a “continuation of the extortion attempt” by the gang.
British Library Cyber Attack
The cyberattack on the British Library started in late October, where the attackers stole large chunks of the library’s website.
Staff at the archive's St Pancras location have been compelled by the disruption to disable the public Wi-Fi and only accept cash payments for some transactions.
Staff at the archive's St Pancras location have been compelled by the disruption to disable the public Wi-Fi and only accept cash payments for some transactions.
The British Library released the following statement on Monday: "We are aware that some data has been exposed, after confirmation last week that this was a ransomware attack. It looks like these are from our own HR records.”
“We have no evidence that data of our users has been compromised.”
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is affiliated with GCHQ, and the Metropolitan Police are collaborating with the library to strengthen its IT infrastructure and carry out a forensic examination.
Sir Roly Keating, chief executive of the British Library, said: “We are immensely grateful to our many users and partners who have shown such patience and support as we work to analyse the impact of this criminal attack and identify what we need to do to restore our online systems in a safe and sustainable manner.”
