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National Museum of the Royal Navy hit by cyber attack
Institution says incident is having ‘significant impact’ on the delivery of its services
The National Museum of the Royal Navy has been the victim of a ransomware cyber attack.
According to a statement, the museum became aware that it had been attacked on Monday 9 December.
Although its sites remain open, the institution said the incident is “having significant impact on the delivery of services across the museum” and apologised for any inconvenience to its customers and partners.
The museum said: “We are working urgently with our partners including our IT provider, law enforcement, the Royal Navy and the National Cyber Security Centre to fully understand the origin and impact of the attack and manage its effects.
“These issues can take time to resolve, and we appreciate your patience and understanding.”
The institution manages six sites across the UK, including the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard; Fleet Air Arm Museum in Ilchester; the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool; HMS Caroline in Belfast; and Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, both in Gosport.
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The attack comes just over a year after the British Library was left severely incapacitated by a massive cyber attack by the criminal group Rhysida.
The British Library has so far incurred losses of around £1.6m, encompassing income loss and additional costs relating to the attack. It was forced to install a completely new computing infrastructure and is still working to rebuild some of the complex systems that were destroyed in the attack.
Museum and library sectors around the world have been on high alert since the British Library attack and a series of similar incidents at institutions in Canada and the US.
The National Cyber Security Centre provides guidance on dealing with heightened cyber threat, staying safe online and actions to take following a data breach.
At a select committee hearing this week, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said that the government's impending spending review would have a “tech focus” to help organisations like the British Library protect themselves from growing cyber threats.
“We're working across government to make sure that we've got the right processes and systems in place to protect organisations from those sorts of attacks,” she said.