British Library Staff Passports Leaked Online, Hackers Demand £600,000 Ransom

In a ransomware attack, the British Library staff passports have been leaked online, where the threat actors are demanding a ransom of £600,000 (to be paid in Bitcoin) in order to retrieve the stolen documents. 

The responsibility of the attack has been claimed by ransomware gang Rhysida. The group has listed the library as their victim over its darknet forum, where it has leaked the low resolution snippets of the stolen information. The gang is offering to auction the further information for 20 Bitcoin, or about £600,000, to the highest bidder.

As a result of the attacks, the library’s operations have been disrupted for weeks.
The stolen data includes images of passport photos and HMRC employment records. 

In the darknet website, the listing for the British Library reads, “With just seven days on the clock, seize the opportunity to bid on exclusive, unique and impressive data. Open your wallets and be ready to buy exclusive data.”

The aforementioned listing appeared on the website on Monday, where the group has demanded the ransom to be paid till November 27.

In regards to this, Emisoft’s threat analyst, Brett Callow says that the data “auction” was effectively a “continuation of the extortion attempt” by the gang.

British Library Cyber Attack

The cyberattack on the British Library started in late October, where the attackers stole large chunks of the library’s website. 

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This article has been indexed from CySecurity News – Latest Information Security and Hacking Incidents

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