Christie's £670m art auctions hit by cyber attack

A cyberattack is impeding Christie's auction house's efforts to sell art and other valuable items valued at an estimated $840m (£670m).

In its spring auctions, lots ranging from rare wine to a $35m (£27m) painting by Vincent van Gogh are up for bids.

Its website has been taken offline, so prospective customers can’t access them.

A collection of valuable watches, some of which belonged to Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, has also been hit by the attack.

The Evening Standard understands that Christie’s had been targeted in a "technology security incident" but Christie’s confirmed bids could still be placed over the phone and in-person, as normal.

For those who are eager (and wealthy!), Christie’s has launched a different webpage with basic details on the goods that will be auctioned off.

Christie's New York auctions were held on Tuesday (May 14), with the sale of artwork from patron Rosa de la Cruz. Collections of artwork from the 20th and 21st centuries were up for bids.The $500m (£395m) 20th century art collection featured works by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, and Georgia O'Keefe.Additionally, even if users are unable to access its website, they can still place online bids via its Christie's Live service.

"Christie’s has in place well-established protocols and practices, which are regularly tested, to manage such incidents.” a statement reads.

The outage isn’t new. The renowned auction house managed to perform a watch charity sale in Geneva on Friday, despite the outage, which started last week and was originally scheduled for 2023.

Christie’s is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie.

It has additional sale rooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Amsterdam, Geneva, Shanghai, and Dubai, but the company's primary location is on King Street, St James's in London.

François Pinault's holding company, Groupe Artémis, is the owner.

Click here for the correct website.