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The Boston Public Library is used by more than 4 million visitors per year through its central library and twenty-five neighborhood branches, as well as millions more online.
According to a statement published on the BPL official website, a systemwide technical outage recently happened caused by a cybersecurity attack.
On Wednesday morning, 8/25, the Boston Public Library experienced a systemwide technical outage due to a cybersecurity attack, pausing public computer and public printing services, as well as some online resources. Affected systems were taken offline immediately, and proactive steps were taken to isolate the problem and shutdown network communication. There is currently no evidence that sensitive employee or patron data has been disclosed.
The library is working with the Mayor’s Department of Innovation and Technology and law enforcement officials to address the cybersecurity attack. The Library’s IT department is working on restoring all technology services, and in the meantime, all locations will remain open, patrons will still be able to check out books, and some online services remain operational. This is an ongoing situation and the library will update patrons and staff about services and impacts on its website.
IT Staff Is Working on Restoring the Affected Systems
The Boston Public Library IT department is now restoring the affected devices and services.
We apologize for any inconvenience this outage may have caused patrons.
Thank you for your patience as our team and law enforcement officials work to restore our digital services and protect the library from future attacks.
The statement recently issued cones a few days after the library informed the public of the attack through a tweet that was saying the outage impacted computers, printers, and some online resources.
We are experiencing a system wide technical outage. Computer, printer, and some online resources are not currently available. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes and will let you know when the issue has been resolved.
— Boston Public Library (@BPLBoston) August 25, 2021
At this time it remains unknown who was behind the attack.
Dora is a digital marketing specialist within Heimdal™ Security. She is a content creator at heart - always curious about technology and passionate about finding out everything there is to know about cybersecurity.
