Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) immediate, and (2) long-term, assistance they are providing to the British Library in the aftermath of the recent ransomware attack, to ensure the recovery of compromised data, and the implementation of measures to enhance the Library's cybersecurity resilience.

The British Library is undertaking a forensic investigation of this incident, with the support of the National Cyber Security Centre and cyber security specialists, and has reported it to the Information Commissioner’s Office. This investigation will help to provide a full picture of what happened, and the extent of disruption caused. This will take time, during which the British Library is liaising closely with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport and others to provide updates.

The British Library has taken targeted protective measures to ensure the integrity of its systems, including the quarantining of hardware, the resetting of passwords for all staff, and the installation of additional monitoring and detection software across its estate.

The central aim of the Government Cyber Security Strategy is to ensure that Government’s critical functions are strengthened against cyber attack by 2025, and that all Government organisations across the public sector are resilient to known vulnerabilities and attack methods by 2030. As the sponsor Department for the British Library, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will continue to work closely with the Library to enhance its overall cyber resilience and ensure these targets are met.