Overview
- Hackers with months of access emptied Uffizi servers in early February and sent a ransom demand to director Simone Verde’s phone.
- The stolen trove included the full photographic archive plus access codes, alarm details, internal maps, and the positions of cameras and sensors.
- Following the ransom, on February 3 the museum closed the Tesoro dei Granduchi at Palazzo Pitti and moved its most valuable jewels to Banca d’Italia vaults.
- Crews have sealed vulnerable doors and passages with fresh brickwork and are expanding video surveillance to cut possible routes for intruders.
- Prosecutors and the postal police, backed by the national cybersecurity agency, are investigating a likely entry point in an old web tool for low‑resolution images as the hackers threaten dark‑web sales but have recently gone quiet.