PhD students have described “stumbling through” their research after losing access to the UK’s national database of doctoral theses, as disruption to the British Library’s digital archive following a devastating cyberattack enters its third month.
The UK’s national library has warned that some services could remain offline for “several months” after the attack by the Rhysida ransomware group – a Russia-linked unit also allegedly responsible for attacks on government institutions in Chile, Kuwait and Portugal – in late October.
Concern among many researchers focuses on the loss of the EThOS archive of 600,000 doctoral dissertations. About half of this site’s users are postgraduates.
Khadijah Na’eem, a PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Times Higher Education that the loss of “unlimited access” to the British Library’s digital archives had caused her significant difficulties.
