Italy's famed Uffizi admits cyber-attack but denies security breach

 

The Uffizi Galleries are among the most visited in the world (Image: Wirestock)

The Uffizi Galleries in Florence have confirmed they were subject to a cyber-attack - but denied that the security systems protecting their famous works had been compromised.

 The Uffizi stressed that nothing had been either damaged or stolen, after hackers were reported to have infiltrated the museum's IT systems and accessed sensitive security data.

 The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that hackers had broken into the museums' IT systems and demanded a ransom before allegedly stealing access codes, internal maps, and the locations of alarms and CCTV cameras. But the Uffizi contested this account, saying its security systems were inaccessible from the outside.

 According to Corriere, the intruders appeared to have gradually assembled a comprehensive picture of the museum's operations by moving through interconnected systems, computers, and phones. According to the newspaper, a ransom demand along with a threat to sell the data on the dark web was later sent to the personal phone of museum director Simone Verde. Some of Italy's most famous works are housed in the Uffizi Gallery, including Primavera and Botticelli's Birth of Venus. According to Corriere, the Uffizi's separate sites at Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens were also affected by the cyberattack, which took place between the end of January and the beginning of February. The museum later clarified that the breach occurred on February 1.

READ MORE: Everything we know about the Louvre jewellery heist

All major museums have had to reevaluate their security since the October raid on the Louvre museum in Paris, which resulted in the theft of priceless historical artifacts and the masked gang appearing to be able to exploit the museum's shaky and outdated CCTV system. The Uffizi stated that "both before and after the cyber-attack," work that was already underway had been accelerated. Its situation was "nothing like the Louvre", it stressed, with analogue cameras replaced with digital ones, following recommendations made by the police in 2024.

 Responding to claims that the hackers had found out the location of surveillance cameras and sensors, it said there was "no evidence whatsoever that the hackers possessed any maps of the security systems".

 Anyone walking through the museum could see were the cameras were, as was the case with any public space, it said, so there was little surprise that their location had been found out.

 "No passwords were stolen - none whatsoever - because the security systems are entirely internal and closed-circuit," it said, adding that employees' phones had also not been compromised by the hack.

The Palazzo Pitti ws the summer residence of the Medici family (Image: Getty Images)

The "Medici Treasure," so-called because the powerful Renaissance banking family spent their summers there, is normally located on two floors of the Palazzo Pitti. However, according to Corriere, the hack caused parts of the palace to be closed since February 3 and valuable items to be temporarily transferred to a Bank of Italy vault for safekeeping.

The museum did not deny that the treasures had been taken to a bank vault but insisted the move was part of planned renovation work.

 Some doors and emergency exits at the palace had been sealed with bricks and mortar, and staff instructed not to speak publicly about the incident, according to Corriere.

 However, the Uffizi attributed the bricked-up doors in part to fire-safety measures.

 It pointed out that there had not been a fire safety certification for decades, and just two days ago, it had sent the fire department a safety notice. Other doors were sealed, it added, "to prevent excessive permeability of the historic building's spaces - structures dating back to the 1500s - considering their changed functions and the evolving international context".

 It also responded to claims that the intruders had stolen the entire digital photographic archive of the Uffizi Gallery, a decades-long record of artworks and documents, insisting that the photographic server was still operational due to the presence of a backup. Although it appeared to acknowledge the server had been taken down, it said that was necessary for the backup to be restored.  That was now complete and no data had been lost, it said.

 The Uffizi, Italy's second-most visited museum after the Vatican, continues to be open to visitors despite the controversy, with ticketing and public areas largely unaffected. The Uffizi generates approximately €60 million (£52 million; $69 million) in annual revenue.

Source: BBC