CHEYENNE, Wyo. — On Tuesday morning, the Laramie County Library System was the target of a ransomware attack that shut down library servers and immobilized most digital services.
The library’s Information Technology team was able to revert the system to a previous state and resume full service. The library’s IT team believes the purpose of the attack was to disrupt service as a way of extorting money, in the form of Bitcoin, from the library system rather than targeting sensitive information, according to a library news release.
“We at the library take cybersecurity very seriously,” LCLS Executive Director Antonia Gaona said in a news release. “But the increasing sophistication of malicious actors makes it very difficult for public institutions with limited resources to stay ahead of the curve. We will be conducting an audit of our security measures to try and prevent similar disruptions to service in the future.”
In an abundance of caution, the library is conducting a full security sweep to ensure all data are secure. Patron records are owned by the Wyoming State Library and were not compromised or accessed by the attackers.
In recent years, the number of ransomware attacks against libraries and other public institutions has risen. SANS, the largest cybersecurity research organization in the world, reported an alarming 73% increase in ransomware attacks in 2023, and that upward trend has only continued since.