Since the 17th century, the British Library and its predecessor institutions have been home to one of the most important collections of documents, books and periodicals in the world. Today, it’s our national deposit library, and publishers have a legal obligation to file a copy of every new book published with the library. As such, it’s a hugely important research institution, and the corridors and research rooms on any given day are usually packed with academics and scholars.
At least, that’s what should be happening.
On the last weekend of October last year, disaster struck the library as a ransomware attack quietly spread across its systems, locking out researchers, staff and management alike. The hackers demanded payment to unlock
