These institutions, among others, admitted to problems in exhibiting their collections online since a cyber attack damaged a provider of technological services facilitating the display of their works digitally and managing internal documents, reported the ArtNews portal.

The software provider or company, called Gallery Systems, helps hundreds of cultural organizations manage these activities, but it was not immediately clear how widespread the cyberattack was or what its overall impact would be.

Gallery Systems said in a recent message to customers, obtained by The New York Times, that it noticed a problem on December 28, when computers running its software became encrypted and could no longer function. He also stated that they took the indicated measures.

Some museums that rely on this provider, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, said they were not affected because they host their own databases.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reportedly said that although its digital collections page is no longer functional on its website, its internal data was not compromised.

Security experts suggest that cyberattacks against cultural groups are increasingly common.

In November, personal information was stolen from the British Library by a ransomware group, which published images of internal human resources files.

The Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra also faced recent cyberattacks, hampering their ability to sell tickets online.

According to specialists, in many cases such attacks come from ransomware groups, who hold the online service hostage until victims pay a sum of money.

As for the attacks carried out in recent days against Gallery Systems, to this day it is not clear what motivated them.

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