Christie's takes website offline after cyberattack, delays live auction
British auction house Christie's said a cyberattack has forced it to take down its website and move one live auction.
In a Sunday post on LinkedIn, Christie’s CEO Guillaume Cerutti confirmed that the auction house was dealing with a “technology security incident” after the organization’s website went down on Thursday.
“We are managing this incident according to well-established practices, supported by experts in the field. We have made proactive decisions -including taking our main website offline,” Cerutti said.
“I am pleased to confirm that all our live auctions this coming week will take place as scheduled with the exception of the Rare Watches sale in Geneva that is postponed for just one day to Tuesday 14th May,” Cerutti said. “Our clients for these sales will be able to bid securely in person, on the phone, or online via Christie’s Live.”
More information about the Geneva auction was provided on Instagram, with officials saying they decided to move the auction from Monday “to ensure the best possible experience for all our clients as we move ahead with our auctions and continue to resolve the technology security issue which has impacted some of our systems.”
The auction house has created a stripped down temporary website that says it is “looking to resolve this as soon as possible” and provides phone numbers and basic information about items that will be auctioned in the coming days.
Christie’s did not respond to requests for comment about what kind of cyberattack it is dealing with or whether data was stolen. The company reported $6.2 billion in sales last year.
The New York Times reportedly spoke with two employees who complained that the leaders of the company were offering little information about the attack to lower-level workers.
Christie’s and other major auction houses have faced cybersecurity issues in the past. Last year, a German researcher discovered a vulnerability in Christie's platform that allowed anyone to see the exact location of people who uploaded photos of items they wanted to auction off.
In 2022, threat actors deployed code capable of stealing and collecting payment card details on more than 100 websites operated by Sotheby's.
Jonathan Greig
is a Breaking News Reporter at Recorded Future News. Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014. Before moving back to New York City, he worked for news outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia. He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.