London Public Library officials have confirmed that the personal information of some employees has been accessed by the perpetrators of last month’s cyberattack.
“London Public Library has notified the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of the cyberattack and the compromise of personal information,” officials said in the update released Wednesday night.
The outage, originally called a “cyber incident” and later confirmed as a “cyberattack,” occurred on Dec. 13, 2023 and shut down online services, such as the website, library emails and public computers, as well as three of the smaller branches.
London’s outage came nearly two months after the Toronto Public Library was targeted in a cyberattack that downed system access until 2024.
Following the incident, the library announced that the Carson, Glanworth and Lambeth branches would remain closed until the new year after initially saying they would only close through next week. All branches have reopened as of Wednesday.
The recent statement also said there is no indication that personal information belonging to library patrons has been accessed.
“Additionally, the information accessed does not include any credit card details as online library fee payment and online donation transactions are conducted using external banking/ecommerce platforms that were not affected by the cyber-attack,” the statement said.
With respect to services and systems, to date, the library said that access to ebook and audiobook platforms and other digital resources, WiFi, telephone and email services has been restored.
“We are hopeful that public computer access will be available very soon and we are continuing to work at restoring the library’s catalogue and lending systems, including holds, returns and check ins of books and other physical items,” the statement concluded.
The investigation, involving cybersecurity experts and the London Police Service, remains ongoing and further updates will be posted on the library’s website.
– With files from Ben Harrietha and Jacquelyn LeBel
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