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Scrape Timestamp (UTC): 2024-05-13 19:37:35.688
Source: https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/13/cyberattack_shutters_christies_website/
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'Cyberattack' shutters Christie's website days before $840M art mega-auction. Going once, going twice, going offline. Christie's website remains offline as of Monday after a "technology security issue" shut it down Thursday night – just days before the venerable auction house planned to flog $840 million of art. As of Friday morning and still today, Christie's redirects visitors to a temporary website, reportedly due to a cyberattack. It's not thought, at the moment, that any customer data has been stolen. The temporary site right now has the following message on it: We apologize that our full website is currently offline. We are looking to resolve this as soon as possible and regret any inconvenience. In a statement to the media, Christie's confirmed "a technology security issue has impacted some of our systems, including our website." The auction house did not immediately respond to The Register's inquiries on how the digital intruders broke in, what data (if any) they stole, and when Christie's expected to have its main website back online. Christie's did confirm its art mega-sale would continue as planned this Tuesday, but with bidding in person and by phone — not online. "We are looking forward to welcoming you to our exhibitions and to registering you to participate in these auctions," CEO Guillaume Cerruti said. The latest security snafu comes less than a year after Christie's inadvertently leaked location data belonging to hundreds of high-end art owners seeking to sell their paintings at auction. That blunder, which came to light in August, was basically a privacy oversight by Christie's website, which allowed would-be customers to upload photos of the art they were seeking to sell. As noticed by some clever clogs, some of these uploads included precise GPS coordinates revealing the exact location of some very pricey pieces. These physical addresses — which could guide would-be thieves to the buildings where the art resided — were publicly available to anyone online via the Christie's website, which had failed to strip out this location metadata from submitted snaps. Christie's said it had since addressed that error. Another security slip-up, however, isn't a good look for the British auction house. Meanwhile, cybercriminals continue their all-out assault on organizations across the globe, with recent break-ins and data-theft incidents hitting a wide range of targets from Europol to the Ohio Lottery. These types of high-profile compromises were a hot topic of discussion among US officials and private-sector security firms alike at last week's RSA Conference. According to US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly, the only way to make cyberattacks, including ransomware infections, a "shocking anomaly," is by holding technology makers — not end users — accountable for making their products more secure.
Daily Brief Summary
Christie's auction house website became inaccessible following a "technology security issue" identified last Thursday, days before hosting an auction showcasing $840 million worth of art.
The incident, described as a cyberattack, prompted Christie's to redirect visitors to a temporary website while efforts to restore the main site continue. There's currently no evidence that customer data was compromised.
Despite the cyberattack, Christie's confirmed that their high-profile art auction would proceed as scheduled using in-person and telephone bidding methods.
This cybersecurity issue follows less than a year after Christie's faced criticism for inadvertently exposing location data of high-end art owners through their website.
The broader context includes a spike in cyberattacks globally, targeting diverse organizations from Europol to the Ohio Lottery. Such incidents were a significant topic at the recent RSA Conference, emphasizing the need for enhanced product security.
US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly highlighted the importance of holding technology manufacturers accountable to reduce the frequency and impact of cyberattacks.