Early Tuesday morning, the Laramie County Library System was the victim of a ransomware attack that shut down library servers and immobilized most digital services. The library’s Information Technology team was able to revert the system to a previous state and resume full service for library patrons as of 9:00am.
The library’s IT team is confident that the purpose of the attack was to disrupt service as a way of extorting money, in the form of Bitcoin, from the library system rather than targeting sensitive information. In an abundance of caution, the library is conducting a full security sweep to ensure all data are secure. Patron records are owned by the Wyoming State Library and were not compromised or accessed by the attackers.
Ransomware attacks against libraries and other public institutions has risen in recent years. SANS, the largest cybersecurity research organization in the world, reported an alarming 73% increase in ransomware attacks in 2023, and that trend has only continued in subsequent years.
“We at the library take cybersecurity very seriously,” says Antonia Gaona, Executive Director of LCLS. “But the increasing sophistication of malicious actors makes it very difficult for public institutions with limited resources to stay ahead of the curve. We will be conducting an audit of our security measures to try and prevent similar disruptions to service in the future.”