After\u00a0a cyberattack\u00a0on Christie\u2019s auction house earlier this month, a hacker group called RansomHub claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n
In a post on the dark web Monday, RansomHub said that it had gained access to the personal information of the firm\u2019s wealthy clients and published what it claimed was a \u201csample\u201d with a few names, nationalities and birth dates.<\/p>\n
The group posted the information along with a countdown clock, suggesting they would publish the entire trove in early June.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s claims and the authenticity of the data it published could not be immediately verified.<\/p>\n
But a Christie’s spokesperson acknowledged that some client information was taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur investigations determined there was unauthorized access by a third party to parts of Christie\u2019s network,\u201d wrote the\u00a0spokesperson in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also determined that the group behind the incident took some limited amount of personal data relating to some of our clients.<\/p>\n
There is no evidence that any financial or transactional records were compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack, which led to the auction house taking down its site on May 9, came days before Christie\u2019s began its all-important 20th and 21st century\u00a0May auctions in New York.<\/p>\n
This briefly threw the success of the auctions\u00a0in doubt.\u00a0But Christie\u2019s, which at the time called the attack a \u201ctechnology security incident,\u201d was able to post its auction catalogs on a separate site, and gave collectors who registered a link to bid online.<\/p>\n
All told, the main Christie\u2019s website was offline\u00a0for approximately 10 days<\/a>. Christie\u2019s is held by the\u00a0billionaire Pinault family\u2019s\u00a0Artemis SA<\/a>.<\/p>\n