Bookstores struggle to fill shelves after cyber attack on major publisher
A cyber attack on one of the country's major publishing distributors has left bookshops and authors struggling to fill their shelves in the lead-up to their busiest trading period.
Hachette Australia said unauthorised activity on the computer systems of its distribution subsidiary, Alliance Distribution Services (ADS), was believed to have occurred on July 18.
The incident has severely disrupted the distribution of titles by Hachette's authors across Australia, with independent bookstores unable to fill shelves as they prepare to order stock leading up to its high-demand Christmas period.
Jaye Chin-Dusting, who is owner of Mary Martin Bookshop in Melbourne, first noticed there was a problem when books published by Hachette stopped arriving.
Jaye Chin-Dusting says new release titles have been prioritised by ADS, but supply of books already released remains limited. (ABC News: Ethan White)
"ADS would supply us 15 to 20 per cent of the books that we usually have on our shelves," she said.
"In the first couple of weeks, I think we weren't really sure what was going on.
"Certainly, books weren't arriving."
Authors left empty-handed
Children's author Danielle Binks' plans to Adelaide next month to visit schools and launch her new book, Shakespeare in the Orchard, have been thrown in doubt.
"Normally when I do any interstate visits, I'll pop into bookstores and sign copies of my book," said the Melbourne author, who publishes titles with Hachette.
"I've been told I can't for this September trip, obviously because Hachette has no way of knowing who has stock and can't supply them with more at the moment."
Danielle Binks says a planned trip to Adelaide, including presentations to school students, is in doubt without a guaranteed supply of copies of her new book. (Supplied)
Binks said the incident had affected the entire Australian publishing industry.
"My publicists and sales team at Hachette are equally gutted that they can't do their jobs to their full extent," she said.
The incident was brought to wider attention by Melbourne author Maxine Beneba Clarke, who took to social media last week sharing her experience.
"For me, this will mean the loss of a large part of my income, possibly for years, and the loss of thousands of young authors," she wrote on Instagram last week.
"My heart is broken."
Melbourne writer Maxine Beneba Clarke brought the cyber attack to public attention. (ABC Arts: Leah Jing McIntosh )
A communication breakdown
In a statement, Hachette Australia told the ABC it was continuing to restore systems and services, following "unauthorised activity" in ADS computer systems.
"We know this has been frustrating for our authors, booksellers, readers and people, and we are sorry for the impact it has had," a spokesperson said.
Hachette, who owns Alliance Distribution Services, says it is working to ensure commitments around events are delivered where possible. (Supplied: Alliance Distribution Services)
The company said while progress is being made, it is not yet in a position to confirm a timeline for a full return to normal operations.
"Restoring full operations securely remains our top priority, and we are grateful for the patience and support of everyone across the industry while we work through this."
Ms Chin-Dusting said it had been six weeks since supply issues began, slowing down the quantity of stock her business was able to purchase.
"ADS has been pretty good at nevertheless manually pushing out the new releases. So it's the backlists — books that have been out for a little bit — that are more difficult to get," she explained.
"If it goes on for much longer, our bookshop will need to start obviously having to look at other options."
Jaye Chin-Dusting says major book retailers can afford alternative options, leaving smaller independent stores like her own vulnerable. (ABC News: Ethan White)
Ms Chin-Dusting said in the meantime, Hachette has suggested booksellers source stock through other means, including purchasing them from the online retailer Booktopia or international suppliers.
"Of course, that then increases the cost of the book because of the freight that comes through."
Authors and booksellers who spoke to the ABC made it clear they valued the relationship with Hachette, but expressed concern at a lack of clarity from the publisher.
"I think the problem for us is that we don't know how long this will go for, so it's a bit difficult to manage the expectations of customers," Ms Chin-Dusting said.
"Communication has been a little bit of a challenge."
Binks agreed that she stands by and fully supports Hachette, but that the publisher has left its clients in the dark.
"Part of me wishes that there had been more transparency," she said.
"If there had been more openness, Hachette may have received some genuine goodwill from the publishing community who knows exactly how it feels when disaster outside of your control strikes."
Cyber safety expert warns of more attacks
Director of RMIT University's Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation Matthew Warren hypothesised one of the possible causes of the incident was a ransomware attack.
He said this occurs when hackers exploit vulnerabilities in technology systems through malware, before contacting the organisation to demand payment to stop the attack.
"The other scenario is that the actual supply chain was the aim of the attack, which was really to disrupt the entire operations," he said.
"I imagine it may be more to do with a ransomware attack that has locked down their book distribution system at their main warehouse and they're literally trying to find alternate ways to distribute books."
Matthew Warren is concerned about the rise of ransomware cyber attacks. (Supplied: Matthew Warren)
Professor Warren said with the rise of artificial intelligence, cyber attacks are likely to become more common.
"We talk about cyber attacks as vulnerabilities in systems, and AI can identify those vulnerabilities more quickly," he said.
"You're certainly going to see an increase in these cyber incidents as these cyber attackers start to work out how to use AI to help them with their criminal activities."
He said it is critical for businesses to maintain investment in cyber security to reduce the risk of future attacks.
"It's really a responsibility that organisations have to undertake and own themselves."
Authors ask for patience
For Danielle Binks, she remains optimistic and is asking readers to be patient while continuing to support local bookstores.
"I encourage people to buy from independent booksellers, because that's investment directly back into your local community," she said.
"Part of that human investment into small business means accepting imperfect scenarios just like this one, which require very empathetic patience and kindness, in response to events entirely beyond our control."
Danielle Binks's latest book, Shakespeare in the Orchard, had an early release last month. (Supplied)
Jaye Chin-Dusting is a little more concerned, worried that sufficient stock of Rebecca Yarros's new title Threshing Day being released in September, won't be available.
"There's a global release on that, so the expectation by our customers would be that we get it when it's possible," she said.
"They've got another month to get it sorted, otherwise it will really impact Hachette authors and booksellers."
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