I wish the headlines around such things were more honest and would just say the truth: "$company is currently offline because we never really invested in security and thought we could just wing it"
That's a somewhat naive take, ransomware attacks have been launched in the past against many organizations that spend a lot on security such as the Dodd Group, various airports, healthcare providers, and energy infrastructure. The Ukraine war has shown that virtually nothing is secure against dedicated attacks, all kinds of government sites, satellite communications, and even live TV programming have been attacked successfully by both sides. In the war, the attacks are more destructive, but the same techniques for entry could also be used by ransomware.
Libraries also have a extremely difficult task, they have complex, bespoke/customized older technology backends.
Their systems are largely open to the public, their computer spaces might be the only computer some have access to. There was a time when the advice about a dodgy file was to just open it at the library computer.
Much of their staff might be outreach hires and so limited/no workexperience that might have endured corporate training around information governance or cyber security.
And they do that on a budget where they can't afford shoe strings.
If only we could have some kind of jobs program where the government could pay people to fix their crap. A side benefit would be a reduction in unemployment.
There are no unemployed cybersecurity professionals (who are qualified). There is likely a fraction of a percent who are "Between jobs" and that's about it. It's still very difficult to find and hire qualified candidates, even despite the recent surge in programmers making the leap.
when it is other nation states that are attacking, its up to the nation you are in to defend you. you dont expect costco to defend itself against Spetznaz?
honestly blame Elmo / DOGE for this; they are the $company who divested your security for you, thinking you could just "wing" it too
You can't really expect a library with hardly any money to do something like that. With companies, however, I would expect them to have a backup of their entire system so that, if something like this happens, they can simply format everything and restore the backup without significant downtime. Ideally, this should be done in a way that isn’t tied to specific hardware. Then they can simply store the backup with AWS or a similar provider and, if necessary, activate the server and continue working from there.
Ailing Mrs. Cas tottered back to her small apartment from the failed book ban, her request to her YottaGPT to find a way to stop the center's library never quite settling in as a memory.
She thought of the tapioca she'd be served for lunch.
The libraries here have figured out that no one votes against library taxes and have built up a $250 mil slush fund on top of all new facilities and so many unnecessary "services" that they have a full fledged advertising campaign to tell people about these things they didn't even know they need.
They really are looking for a reason to exist in the digital age.
A beloved public institution, that improves society as a whole, is equally available to all, has enough money to do their mission well offer auxiliary services and to take advantage of PSA programs?
I have never seen a service the library provided that I didn't think was at least marginally worth throwing some tax cents to provide for free for people that need it. I looked at the NYPL services page https://www.nypl.org/help/services and none of it looked not useful. Were any of them necessary? I mean, probably not in the way nobody needs a library, only that libraries are a fundamentally good service to a community.
I say this as a government-skeptical conservative: libraries are a great use of taxpayer money. Of all the things that people can vote to tax themselves for, here’s something that everyone can use. It’s great.
Many other uses of tax dollars are handouts for a very small number of people that most of us see no benefit from (and may even have side-effects that make things worse for everybody else).
Today I learned that Queens has a public library system that predated the consolidated New York City library system and fiercely fought to maintain independence rather than come under the control of a Manhattan-based system
The tbree systems in NYC also serve the entire state, not just the city. Any NYS resident can get a card at each. I do and use the e book systems for all at the same time even though I rarely go into the city these days.
When the British Library was hit by ransomware, some systems were down for months. They were old software that didn't run on the newer more secure systems the library had to migrate to. And there was no funding to rewrite them, not without cutting already affected services.
This happened to my state's library system a while back. Public computers and free wifi were down for a few months, but no major disruptions of lending services. I don't think the state paid any ransom, instead they just repaired their systems.
I see a lot of people bemoaning the loss of a public service, but honestly I'm not sure the public library is an important service. At one time, yes, it represented access to knowledge for everyone. For everyone talking about how important this is, I'm curious how many have visited a library in the last 5 years to actually get a book.
Today, it could probably disappear and no one would miss it. There's a reason these places operate on a shoestring budget and haven't bothered to update software security. The services we value, we pay for or vote for. If there was a proposition to close libraries in favor of some other minor benefit (e.g. one extra field trip for every school child per year), it would probably lose badly.
Probably most of the relevant functions of a library can be accomplished by other more efficient means. Student loan forgiveness (librarians), homeless shelters with computers, and free daycare for kids. That's basically what people use it for now, and all can be better done if we just admit what its for and do that instead.
NGL it is crazy to me to declare no one needs a library when a new hardcover book is at least $30. I would be out hundreds of dollars, probably over a thousand a year, if I had to buy new every time I wanted to read some book I heard of and maybe didn't even enjoy (the guilt-free "read 20% decide its not for me" is amazing).
Basically most people do not read, and most people here have no social life.
Libraries are for reading and socialising, so many users here have a really really hard time to imagine that someone might have some benefit from them.
44 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 39.4 ms ] threadTheir systems are largely open to the public, their computer spaces might be the only computer some have access to. There was a time when the advice about a dodgy file was to just open it at the library computer.
Much of their staff might be outreach hires and so limited/no workexperience that might have endured corporate training around information governance or cyber security.
And they do that on a budget where they can't afford shoe strings.
honestly blame Elmo / DOGE for this; they are the $company who divested your security for you, thinking you could just "wing" it too
That would also have arguably been more risky of a redemptive act than the right thing to do in this circumstance.
She thought of the tapioca she'd be served for lunch.
They really are looking for a reason to exist in the digital age.
A beloved public institution, that improves society as a whole, is equally available to all, has enough money to do their mission well offer auxiliary services and to take advantage of PSA programs?
What a treasure.
Many other uses of tax dollars are handouts for a very small number of people that most of us see no benefit from (and may even have side-effects that make things worse for everybody else).
Wipe the system and start again.
This happened to my state's library system a while back. Public computers and free wifi were down for a few months, but no major disruptions of lending services. I don't think the state paid any ransom, instead they just repaired their systems.
Today, it could probably disappear and no one would miss it. There's a reason these places operate on a shoestring budget and haven't bothered to update software security. The services we value, we pay for or vote for. If there was a proposition to close libraries in favor of some other minor benefit (e.g. one extra field trip for every school child per year), it would probably lose badly.
Probably most of the relevant functions of a library can be accomplished by other more efficient means. Student loan forgiveness (librarians), homeless shelters with computers, and free daycare for kids. That's basically what people use it for now, and all can be better done if we just admit what its for and do that instead.
Libraries are for reading and socialising, so many users here have a really really hard time to imagine that someone might have some benefit from them.