Metropolitan Opera dealing with cyberattack that shut down website, box office

The Metropolitan Opera confirmed that it is dealing with a crippling cyberattack that has shut down their website and box office.

The New York-based opera house said on Wednesday evening that the cyberattack impacted their network systems, including their “website, box office, and call center.”

While all performances will continue as scheduled, the organization is unable to process new ticket orders or provide exchanges and refunds. 

The Met has experienced a cyberattack that has temporarily impacted our network systems, which include our website, box office, and call center. All performances will take place as scheduled. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/inZCSPSyoX

— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) December 7, 2022

“Once normal operations have resumed, we will honor all refunds and exchanges that we have been unable to process during this period,” the company said in a statement on Twitter.

“We are working as quickly as possible to get this difficult situation resolved.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the website displayed the same message posted to Twitter. General manager Peter Gelb told The New York Times that the company’s systems had been down for more than 30 hours after issues were noticed on Tuesday morning. The FBI has been contacted, according to Gelb.

The popular opera house handles about $200,000 in sales each day during the Christmas season due to an influx of tourists and increased demand for holiday shows. 

In a letter obtained by Opera Wire, Gelb told employees and leaders of the company that an investigation into the incident has been started and a cybersecurity company hired to deal with the response. 

But he added that it will “take time” to restore the company’s systems because they “first have to make sure that our systems are no longer infected and are secure.”

The Metropolitan Opera did not respond to request for comment about whether they were dealing with a ransomware attack or whether customer information was involved in the attack. 

As a result of the attack, the company will not be able to process paychecks, and its internal “Met email” system is also down alongside all internal systems. 

Gelb said more information would be provided in 24 hours once they have a “fuller assessment” of how much damage was done to their system. In the meantime, performances and rehearsals will continue.

The Metropolitan Opera is the latest arts organization affected by a cyberattack or ransomware incident this year following a wide-ranging attack on WordFly, a tech company providing digital marketing for dozens of the most popular cultural organizations in several countries.

That ransomware attack damaged email and text message marketing services for organizations like the Smithsonian, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canada Stage, the Sydney Dance Company in Australia, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the U.K.’s Old Vic Theatre and several other major organizations.
The Smithsonian later said WordFly told them it “worked with the attackers” and confirmed that the stolen data was deleted.