‘People have had to move house’: Inside the British Library, two years on from devastating cyber attack
HWith more than 170 million works, including the Magna Carta, the British Library is one of the largest and most impressive book collections in the world.
But in October 2023, a major cyberattack threw it into chaos, shutting down its digital systems and causing staff information to leak onto the dark web.
Two years later, staff on strike over a pay dispute said the cut was still creating chaos and significantly increasing their workload.
It is stated that some of them had to make major changes in their private lives after their personal information was leaked, while those who said they encountered abuse due to ongoing problems.
One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff “essentially had to become computers” due to the hack.
“Modern libraries are digitally focused; everything from orders to content is done online, so when the cyberattack occurred, library systems were disabled,” they said. Independent.
“We had to do everything manually. To place orders, we had to write things down on a piece of paper and pass them on to the next department, which takes a lot of time.
“The staff literally had to learn the locations of all the items; they became the ordering system, they became computers.”
Even though they now use a digital form to place orders, staff have to enter information manually, which takes quite a long time.
Meanwhile, at the library, dozens of services are still unavailable, including e-books, archives and a manuscript catalog, and online journal articles. This means staff are subject to abuse from frustrated members who cannot access needed materials.
“As you can imagine, there has been a lot of user frustration as things are not working properly, so front-facing staff are facing abuse and even having things thrown at them,” the staff member said.
They also faced having their personal information, including addresses and passport scans, leaked onto the dark web after the library refused to pay a £600,000 ransom fee.
“People have had to move house. There are staff here who have been subjected to domestic violence, who are worried their address is available, and it took months to get an apology,” the staff member said.
Staff also reported constantly being sent fake calls, emails, and text messages.
They added: “The cyber attack is on everyone’s mind, two years have passed the other day and nothing has been fixed, not even a thank you for the hard work people have done over those two years.
“This has affected our working environment, people feel underappreciated and frontline staff are the ones running the organisation.
“Moreover, we experienced a salary increase below inflation. We have staff who work here during the day and have to go to another job in the evening. People are really disappointed and upset.”
On the second anniversary of the attack, more than 300 staff at the library went on strike over wages.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which organized the protest, said staff were “forced to work second jobs and take out loans to pay bills and cover housing costs”.
The union said that despite the British Library increasing its pay rise from 2 per cent to 2.4 per cent, it was “still well below inflation”.
Members are demanding inflation-proof pay increases, making up for last year’s pay gap, and paying alternative working arrangement (AWP) wages for security staff during congested hours.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “The almost unanimous vote for strike action is just a glimpse of the strength of feeling among our members at the British Library.
“They are outraged at yet another humiliating wage offer that does little to alleviate the health problems many suffer from low pay. It also doesn’t come close to eliminating the need for many people to work second jobs and take out loans to pay bills and cover housing costs.
“The employer’s well-paid executives need to lift their eyebrows and realize that it is our hard-working members who make the British Library a vital cultural institution.”
A British Library spokesperson said: “We recognize the impact of the devastating cyber attack on the British Library two years ago on our staff and users and are continuing to restore systems and services. While we cannot comment on the experiences of individual staff members, we are committed to working with our Union colleagues to agree a pay award.”
