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The British Library said personal data stolen in its 31 October cyberattack was leaked online and appeared to be offered for sale, with evidence indicating the material came from internal HR records. Images posted by the attackers appeared to show employment contracts and passport information, and the library warned that employee data had been exposed while major disruption continued across its website, online systems, reading rooms, and public Wi‑Fi. The institution urged users to change any reused passwords and said it was working with the UK National Cyber Security Centre, the Metropolitan Police, and external cybersecurity specialists.
The ransomware group Rhysida claimed responsibility and advertised the stolen data on its leak site with a starting bid of 20 bitcoin, in what researchers described as a double-extortion operation combining system encryption with data theft. US agencies including the FBI and CISA had recently warned that Rhysida has targeted organizations across education, manufacturing, IT, and government, while private-sector researchers linked the group to attacks in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas and assessed it may be a rebrand of the older Vice Society operation. Analysts said Rhysida commonly gains access through phishing or compromised VPN accounts and uses ransom notes titled CriticalBreachDetected.
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Security researchers reported that Rhysida likely emerged from the older Gold Victor/Vice Society operation, suggesting the group was part of a ransomware rebranding pattern.
Before the British Library reporting in late November 2023, the FBI and CISA issued a warning that Rhysida had been targeting organizations across multiple sectors since May 2023.
Following the breach and data leak, the library said it was investigating the incident with support from the UK National Cyber Security Centre, the Metropolitan Police, and external cybersecurity specialists.
The British Library confirmed that personal data stolen in the attack had been leaked online, saying the material appeared to come from internal HR files and advising users to change reused passwords.
By 2023-11-21, the Rhysida ransomware group had claimed responsibility for the British Library incident and advertised allegedly stolen data on its leak site with a starting bid of 20 bitcoin.
On 2023-10-31, the British Library suffered a cyberattack that disrupted its website, online systems, reading rooms, and public Wi‑Fi, with some impacts expected to last for months.
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The British Library suffered a major ransomware attack attributed to **Rhysida** that knocked out its website, online catalogue, digital collections, email, phone network, public Wi‑Fi, and parts of its onsite operations in London and Yorkshire. The disruption forced staff to fall back on limited manual processes for reader services, item ordering, and payments, while the library kept its sites open with reduced functionality. The library said it worked with the UK **National Cyber Security Centre**, law enforcement, private forensic specialists, and the Metropolitan Police as it investigated and contained the incident. Rhysida claimed responsibility, leaked internal HR documents, and attempted to auction stolen data for **20 bitcoin** before publishing about **573GB** of files, including data reportedly taken from CRM systems. The library later said stolen information included personal data such as names, email addresses, and in some cases postal addresses and phone numbers, though not apparently financial data. Recovery took months: by mid-January the library had begun restoring its online catalogue, but warned that broader remediation could take many more months and carry multimillion-pound costs. The outage also disrupted the UK **Public Lending Right** scheme, delaying royalty payments to more than 20,000 authors and other contributors.
Jun 29, 2026
The **Rhysida** ransomware operation has intensified its focus on healthcare, with reporting and government guidance describing an expanding threat that has hit organizations across Western Europe, the Americas, and Australia. U.S. health-sector alerts and vendor research say the group has targeted education, government, manufacturing, technology, managed service providers, and increasingly **healthcare and public health** entities. Researchers have also linked Rhysida to tactics associated with the defunct **Vice Society** operation, while earlier incidents included the leak of stolen documents from the Chilean Army and suspected involvement in disruptive attacks on medical providers. Security reporting says Rhysida commonly gains initial access through **phishing** and then uses tools such as **Cobalt Strike** and **PowerShell** to disable defenses, delete shadow copies, alter RDP settings, and deploy ransomware. In a newly reported healthcare case, **SIA Medical Centre** was listed as a victim, with the attackers claiming theft of roughly **20,000 patient medical records** along with staff identity documents, plaintext credentials, HR files, and legal and financial records. The allegedly exposed data included names, dates of birth, Medicare numbers, clinical notes, insurance files, passports, driver’s licenses, and login credentials, underscoring the group’s dual risk of operational disruption and large-scale sensitive data exposure in the health sector.
Aug 15, 2026
Cookeville Regional Medical Center in Tennessee disclosed that a ransomware attack tied to the **Rhysida** gang exposed the personal, financial, and protected health information of **337,917 individuals**. The hospital said an unauthorized party accessed its network between **July 11 and July 14, 2025**, and a forensic investigation later determined that files may have been viewed or stolen during that period. Exposed data varied by individual and could include names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account details, medical information, medical record numbers, and health insurance information. Rhysida claimed responsibility for the intrusion, saying it exfiltrated about **538 GB** of data and later listed the medical center on its dark web leak site, where it said **70%** of the data had been leaked. The breach was initially reported to HHS with a placeholder figure before a full file review was completed in March 2026, after which the hospital began broader notifications. Cookeville Regional said it has not found evidence of misuse so far, urged affected people to monitor accounts and explanation-of-benefits statements, and offered **12 months** of credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
Jun 29, 2026