25 January 2025 , 07:21
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A recently dismissed contractor shut down several systems before being arrested, the museum said
The British Museum was forced to partly close on Friday after its IT infrastructure was allegedly attacked by a former employee.
The contractor, who was recently dismissed, was able to get back into the building and shut down several systems including its ticketing platform, the museum said.
While the museum will remain open this weekend, only a handful of ticket holders will be able to access its paid-for exhibitions, such as its Silk Roads show, because the IT system that manages bookings has been rendered unusable.
A British Museum spokesperson said: “An IT contractor who was dismissed last week trespassed into the museum and shut down several of our systems. Police attended and he was arrested at the scene.
“We are working hard to get the museum back to being fully operational but with regret our temporary exhibitions have been closed today and will remain so over the weekend – ticket holders have been alerted and refunds offered.”
The incident caused chaos in the middle of a busy Friday afternoon and is the latest security issue to blight the institution.
The British Museum is rebuilding its reputation after it was alleged an employee had stolen items over the course of three decades. Items including ancient gems, coins and gold jewellery had been apparently sold on to dealers, or auctioned on eBay. Approximately 2,000 items were found to be missing or lost.
A statement on the museum’s website on Friday said that “due to an IT infrastructure issue some galleries have had to be closed. Please note that this means capacity will be limited, and priority will be given to members and pre-booked ticket holders. Currently our exhibitions remain closed.”
The IT attack is another issue facing the new director of the British Museum, Nicholas Cullinan, whose own judgment was questioned this week after it emerged that in his previous role as director of the National Portrait Gallery he approved the acquisition of work by a major donor to the organisation’s £41m refurbishment.
The Guardian understands that the museum is hopeful its permanent collection will be available to visitors, but the temporary exhibitions are expected to remain closed this weekend.
The IT outage is the latest cyber issue to affect a major cultural institution in the UK. The British Library was hit by a large cyber-attack in 2023, which took several months to resolve and saw users’ personal information appear for sale on the dark web.
Online gangs often deploy malware, which is usually used to hack systems and force institutions to pay vast sums to unlock them.