Auction house Christie's said on Thursday it had alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and British police about the cyberattack that hit its website earlier this month, and began telling customers what types of personal data had been committed.
The company said in an email to customers that neither their financial data nor any information about their recent sales activity had been exposed in the hack. But it said some personal details on customers' identification documents had been compromised.
“Personal identity data comes from identification documents, such as passports and driving licenses, provided as part of customer identification checks, which Christie's must retain for compliance purposes,” said Christie's spokesperson Jessica Stanley. in a statement Thursday morning. . “No identifying photographs, signatures, email addresses or phone numbers were taken.”
It was the first time Christie's officials detailed to the public what kind of information hackers might have obtained from their records about some of the world's richest art collectors. The admission came a few days after a group called RansomHub claimed responsibility for the cyberattack and threatened to publish its findings on nearly 500,000 of the company's customers. The auction house previously referred to the cyberattack as a “technology security incident” and attempted to calm anxious bidders with a temporary website despite serious concerns from some employees.
The company's efforts to downplay the cyberattack were a big hit with bidders. Its major spring auctions, which began shortly after the attack, generated $528 million in sales.
RansomHub, which took responsibility for the Christie's hack, wrote on the dark web that “we tried to reach a reasonable resolution with them but they stopped communicating halfway through” and threatened to start publishing data.
Christie's said in its email to customers that it had notified the relevant law enforcement authorities in Britain and the United States. Law enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its email to customers, Christie's urged people to check their accounts for any unusual activity and wrote that it would offer them “free identity theft protection and monitoring services.”
