Famous Auction House Christie’s Website Taken Down by Hackers
In the Christie’s website breach, the website of world-renowned auction house Christie’s was hacked right before their biggest auction week of the year.
On May 10th, the official site was replaced with a message informing users about it being offline.
As reported by The New York Times, Christie’s spokesperson Edward Lewine confirmed the hack and said additional IT professionals were brought in to manage the situation.
“We apologize that our full website is currently offline. We are looking to resolve this as soon as possible and regret any inconvenience,”
Reads Christie’s official website on May 10th
The timing could not have been worse as Christie’s was set to hold multi-million dollar auctions starting May 14th.
$840 Million in Expected Sales Disrupted by Christie’s Website Breach
Some of the highly anticipated auctions scheduled for the week were expected to generate massive revenues.
The Rosa de la Cruz collection sale on May 16th alone was estimated to achieve over $30 million. An evening sale the same day aimed to bring in more than $100 million.
The mega event on May 16th had works by iconic artists that were projected to combine for around $500 million in sales. However, the website hack made it difficult for interested bidders to register for the upcoming auctions online.
Concerns Mount Over Access to Sensitive Bidder Data
While Christie’s provided alternative contact methods, the full impact of the incident remains unclear. It is unknown whether the hackers were able to obtain private information submitted by bidders and buyers on the site.
This wasn’t the first data security issue either – last September, a breach exposed photographs uploaded by collectors, with some including location metadata. Researchers claimed Christie’s took too long to address an identified vulnerability.
Faced with resolving the hack before their most lucrative week of 2022, Christie’s mobilized additional IT experts. However, it remains to be seen if the Christies Website Breach can be contained in time or if it will disrupt their highly anticipated $840 million mega auction schedule.
