Why I can't wait for the public library to be back online
The fallout of ransomware attacks is not just a privacy challenge; it’s a social equity challenge and these attacks are getting more sophisticated and more frequent.
Every week I put a new batch of Toronto Public library books on hold for my kids. Most of these books are delivered to my local library branch from other bigger branches across the city. When December rolls around, I typically order in several picture books about Hanukkah through the library’s holds system because the few Hanukkah books my branch does carry are snatched up quickly.
On a normal day the library’s holds system is magical, especially for parents of young children living in a formidably expensive city. You order in whatever book your kid desires and unless it’s a hotly anticipated celebrity memoir it will arrive at your local branch in a timely fashion. The holds system is the rare example of a city service that works just the way you want it to. Until, of course, it doesn’t.
This past Hanukkah, I didn’t conduct my book ordering tradition for the holidays because I couldn’t: because a debilitating ransomware attack in late October disabled the library’s holds system, compromised sensitive data and rendered the library’s public computers out of service.
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As far as my family was concerned, we made do. I’m not a multimillionaire but I have the resources to purchase Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins at Indigo. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many families struggling to purchase food, let alone books. (a recent report from Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks found that 1-in-10 Torontonians are relying on food banks).
What’s worse, the holds system is still down in 2024 — as well as other library services. This isn’t merely a problem for parents like me in search of fresh picture books. It’s arguably a far bigger problem for ESL students and new immigrants who require specific resources to study for tests, cash-strapped post-secondary students who rely on library books, and Torontonians of all ages and backgrounds who use public computers to apply for jobs, communicate with faraway family, and research school assignments.
In other words, the fallout of ransomware attacks is not just a privacy challenge; it’s a social equity challenge. And these attacks are getting more sophisticated and more frequent according to Star reporters Alyshah Hasham and Emily Fagan, whose recent reporting reveals that municipalities are at heightened risk. Though the public library is the service currently compromised, it isn’t the only service that is vulnerable to attack. “Water. Waste. 911. If these were compromised by hackers — if water quality were tampered with, or 911 responses delayed — the result could be deadly,” Hasham and Fagan write.
Indeed, we’ve already seen multiple ransomware attacks on Canadian school boards and hospitals in past years and though these institutions aren’t the responsibility of municipal governments, the attacks directed at them convey just how widespread and serious the threat of ransomware is. For example, a ransomware attack on SickKids Hospital in late 2022 led to delayed imaging and lab results. Again, this presents an equity issue. Imagine a future in which hospitals are frequently prone to these attacks. Those with means will seek test results elsewhere; those without will be left waiting on potentially life-altering health information until systems are up and running again.
Experts in the cybersecurity field have long argued that public institutions need to plan better for these attacks by running drills akin to fire drills to identify weak spots in what are often old computer systems badly in need of updates.
And yet, we rarely hear about cybersecurity issues from political leaders on the campaign trail or those already in office.
For security reasons, the city of Toronto has so far been tight-lipped about what exactly it is doing to get library services back online. But we, the voting public, don’t have to be tight-lipped. It is time we demand our leaders invest adequately in cybersecurity because a failure to do so will ultimately touch every aspect of our lives, both digital and analog — from timely access to medical care to the timely arrival of a dusty old book. The more we rely on technology the more vulnerable we are to attack. The time to prepare was yesterday.
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Emma Teitel is a Toronto-based columnist and member of the Star's Editorial Board. Follow her on X: @emmaroseteitel.
Emma Teitel
is a Toronto-based columnist and member of the Star's Editorial
Board. Follow her on X: @emmaroseteitel.
