Source: The Next Web
The Uffizi Gallery's cyberattack exposed a structural vulnerability: cultural institutions treat digital infrastructure as secondary despite housing valuable collections and processing millions of visitor records annually. Museums operate on thin margins with aging IT systems, minimal security staff, and boards prioritizing fundraising over cybersecurity. Ransomware operators exploit this gap deliberately—they know institutions will often pay to avoid public embarrassment or operational shutdown. A successful breach of a museum's ticketing or visitor management system exposes personal data at scale while crippling operations during peak season, forcing a choice between ransom payment and revenue loss.