- World-famous British Museum suffers days-long cyberattack
- The assault was brought on by a former IT contractor
- Exhibitions had been closed over the weekend, however have since reopened
A former worker of the British Museum has been arrested on suspicion of housebreaking and prison injury after allegedly performing an on-site cyberattack which shut down reveals for a number of days.
“An IT contractor who was dismissed final week trespassed into the museum and shut down a number of of our programs. Police attended and he was arrested on the scene,” a spokesperson for the British Museum stated.
The previous contractor’s actions brought on the ticketing system for the museum to stop functioning, resulting in reveals solely being open to pre-booked bookings and members.
Exhibitions closed
The Metropolitan Police stated that it had been known as to the museum at 8.25pm final Thursday on stories that “a person entered the British Museum and brought on injury to the museum’s safety and IT programs”. Police attended the scene and arrested a person in his 50s, who has since been bailed.
An electronic mail despatched to members of the British Museum this morning stated that the museum’s three exhibitions had been now open. “The closures over the previous days can have been disappointing and irritating, and we’re very sorry in case your deliberate go to was impacted.”
“We shall be working so as to add extra alternatives to see the exhibitions out of hours within the coming weeks. Thanks to your endurance and understanding as colleagues labored to resolve the problems,” the e-mail stated.
The museum additionally supplied refunds to ticket holders.
The assault highlights the necessity for organizations to implement strict identification administration insurance policies to make sure that credentials and privileges are rescinded when an worker’s contract ends, stopping them from accessing IT or community infrastructure.
Museums, charities, and different cultural establishments are more and more turning into the targets of ransomware and cyber assaults because of the buyer knowledge they deal with. Organizations corresponding to these usually fail to acknowledge themselves as potential targets of cyberattacks, and consequently place much less precedence on investing in cybersecurity programs.
By way of The Guardian