Sotheby’s International Investigates Unauthorized Access to Third-Party Data
Summary
Sotheby’s International says an incident involving unauthorized access to a third-party marketing platform may have exposed contact details. The company disputes an accesser's claim of 1.6 million contacts and says it is investigating.
Key points
- Sotheby’s says the incident involved unauthorized access to data held on a third-party platform used for marketing contact information.
- Potentially accessed information included names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.
- The company said the platform did not hold financial transaction information, property documentation or email exchanges.
- The person who accessed the data claimed to have obtained 1.6 million contacts; Sotheby’s disputed the figure, saying its database did not contain that many.
- Third-party forensic investigators reportedly attributed the figure to duplicate entries.
- Sotheby’s said it took steps to contain the incident and is working with independent cybersecurity specialists; it said clients potentially affected through sensitive open-text notes would be contacted directly.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Sotheby's International
- Incident Type
- Unauthorized access to data held in a third-party marketing software platform
- Data Types Exposed
- Names
- Addresses
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- Potentially sensitive information in open-text notes fields
- Affected Records
- The person who accessed the data claimed 1.6 million contacts; Sotheby's International disputed that figure, and investigators said it reflected duplicate entries. The actual number of affected records was not disclosed.
- Operational Impact
- Sotheby's International said it took steps to contain the incident and was investigating with independent cybersecurity specialists. It said the platform did not store customer financial transaction information, email exchanges, documentation, or substantive property-related material.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- None reported.
- Claim Status
- confirmed