LITTLE ROCK, AR — In today’s world, we are all at risk of becoming victims of cyberattacks, and large businesses and organizations are no exception.
Experts say they are being targeted fairly often, and the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) is learning that firsthand.
CALS is actively working to get internet networks back up and running following cybersecurity attacks.
“We know this is frustrating for the community and for our staff,” said CALS Executive Director Nate Coulter.
Coulter said this is not the situation they want to be in, but experts are working quickly to get the system up and running again.
They first noticed an internet outage on February 6th.
“This must have been some kind of hacking, some kind of intrusion into the firewall that led to the shutdown,” Coulter said.
Coulter said there is no internet yet, but most other library services are available.
“You can still go to the library and borrow books,” Coulter said. “You can still use your device to download audiobooks, ebooks, and get digital content from your library.”
If you have a library card that will expire during this internet outage, you will have to renew your card in a roundabout way.
Regarding the leakage of personal information, Coulter said there is no reason to believe that personal information could be leaked from cloud servers.
“We also take our obligation to protect people’s information very seriously,” Coulter said.
Experts say you should seriously consider cybersecurity when spending time online.
“Be careful what people ask of you,” says UA Little Rock cybersecurity professor Philip Huff. “Not just blindly following instructions may be of interest to you while browsing social media, email, etc.”
Huff said it’s common for large organizations to be targeted.
“Probably in the past year, two-thirds to about three-quarters of businesses around the world have reported experiencing or being affected by a ransomware attack,” Huff said. “It’s just part of the business.”
There is no set timeline for when the CALS issue will be resolved, but Coulter hopes it will be resolved sooner rather than later.
“It’s just a day-to-day thing,” Coulter said.
CALS has set up hotspots to help people get online.
There is also a grace period for returning books that are overdue due to connectivity issues.
