The auction house was forced to delay its Geneva Rare Watches auction by one day after being targeted by criminals. The sale was expected to occur on 13 May; however, a security breach led to the company’s website being taken down.
The sale went ahead the following day, with eight watches from the private collection of Formula 1 icon Michael Schumacher selling for $USD4.4 million ($AUD6.64 million).
Taking to social media, Christie’s CEO Guillaume Cerutti said that moving forward, it would be business as usual.
“Our subsequent investigation has determined there was unauthorised access by a third party to parts of Christie’s network,” he said.
“The investigation also identified that the group behind the incident took some data from the Christie’s network, including a limited amount of personal data relating to some of our clients.”
He continued: “In the meantime, our auction sales continue to take place as usual, with our website and online capabilities fully and securely functional.”
Cerutti said the company found no evidence the hackers had taken or copied any financial or transactional information belonging to its clients.
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