The Toronto Public Library is still in the process of recovering from a ransomware attack that limited its offerings and required wholesale changes to how the organization runs.
Toronto City Librarian Vickery Bowles published a lengthy note on Wednesday explaining the devastating situation facing the library since the attack came to light at the end of October.
Bowles said services at the library - which runs 100 branches and has more than 5,000 staff members - are set to return gradually beginning later in January.
While they have spent weeks trying to restore services, library accounts online are still not accessible and public computers as well as printers are not available.
This has been devastating for the people who rely on the city's libraries as their primary source of internet access - particularly low income city residents and school children.
In spite of the struggles, Bowles said the library has still been able to allow customers to borrow half a million physical materials and almost 10,000 people were still able to register for library cards.
The library has still been able to hold in-person events and programs as it deals with the ransomware attack.
Bowles explained that the lengthy recovery is taking months because the library needs to bring everything back in a way that allows it to prevent future attacks.
Several city library systems faced attack in 2023, including major incidents involving the British Library - one of the largest libraries in the world and the national library of the United Kingdom.
London Public Library, which services London, Canada's 422,000 residents, was also forced to shut down due to a cyberattack.
On Wednesday evening, a ransomware gang claimed an attack on North Carolina's Bladen County Public Library.
The library did not respond to requests for comment but county leaders announced last month that their systems were affected by a cyberattack.
The incident was so damaging that the North Carolina National Guard was called in to help with the recovery effort.
First American becomes latest real estate industry giant hit with cyberattack.
Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014.
Before moving back to New York City, he worked for news outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia.
He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Thu, 21 Dec 2023 22:20:24 +0000