British Library still recovering two years after cyber attack

Home to more than 170 million items, 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 cyber attack plunged it into chaos, shutting down its digital systems and resulting in the leaking of staff details onto the dark web. Two years on, staff — who are striking due to a pay dispute — have said the disruption is still creating chaos and considerably increasing their workload.

They say they have faced abuse as a result of the ongoing issues, while some have had to make major changes in their personal lives after their personal details were leaked. One worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said staff have “essentially had to become the computer” due to the hack.

“Modern libraries are digitally focused — everything is done online from orders to content — so when the cyber attack happened, library systems were just taken down,” they told The Independent.

“We had to do everything manually. To do orders, we had to write things down on a piece of paper and pass it to the next department, which takes a lot of time.

“Staff have literally had to learn the locations of all the items — they have become the ordering system, become the computer.” While they now use a digital form to place orders, staff still have to input information manually — which takes considerably longer. Meanwhile dozens of services at the library still unavailable, including E-books, its archives and manuscripts catalogue, and online journal articles. This has meant staff have suffered abuse from frustrated members unable to access the materials needed.

“As you can imagine there has been a lot of user frustration as things aren’t working properly, so front-facing staff are facing abuse and have even had things thrown at them,” the staff member said. At the same time, they have faced having their personal details, 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 members here who have experienced domestic abuse who are worried their address is available, and it took months to get an apology,” the staff member said.

Staff have also reported constant fraudulent calls, emails, and text messages. They added: “The cyber attack is on everyone’s minds, it was two years the other day and nothing has improved — there hasn’t really even been a thank you for the hard work people did during those two years. “It has impacted our work environment, people feel under-appreciated and it’s front-facing staff who have basically been running the organisation. “Then on top of that, we had a below inflation pay rise. We have staff who work here during the day then have to go to another job in the evening. People are really disappointed and upset.”

More than 300 members of staff at the library have gone on strike over their wages on the two year anniversary of the attack. The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which organised the industrial action, said staff are “forced to work second jobs and take out loans to pay their bills and meet housing costs”. The union said that while British Library has increased its pay rise from 2 per cent to 2.4 per cent, it “is still way below inflation”. Members are demanding an inflation-proof pay rise, restoration for last year’s pay shortfall, and payment of alternative working patterns (AWP) wages for security staff on compressed hours.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “A near unanimous vote for strike action is just a small glimpse into the strength of feeling among our members at the British Library. “They are livid at yet another insulting pay offer that does little to alleviate the health problems that many suffer from because of low pay. Nor does it come close to ending the need for many to work second jobs and take out loans to pay their bills and meet their housing costs.

“The employer’s well-paid executives need to take the blinkers off and understand that our hard-working members are what makes the British Library the vital cultural institution that it is.”