The British Museum has had to partially close its doors due to a former employee’s unauthorised access to its IT network. The contractor, who was recently dismissed, was able to access some systems before being arrested. As a result, some temporary exhibitions and galleries had to close on Friday. The museum has informed members and other ticket-holders of capacity limitations this weekend and has given them priority. Customers with tickets for the weekend have been contacted before their visit.
The British Museum, which holds globally renowned items such as the Rosetta Stone and the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship burial, is a prized UK visitor attraction, inspiring over five million visitors last year alone. It has now been decided to close some temporary exhibitions, including Silk Roads and Picasso: Printmaker, as a consequence of the IT shutdown. The museum management assured ticket holders who have been affected of additional support and flexibility in scheduling their visits.
According to a museum spokesperson, seen here giving their comments to the BBC, “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 Metropolitan Police force has yet to comment on the ongoing investigation.
It is now up to museum staff to remedy the damage and ensure all IT systems involved are made secure once more. The museum apologises to all those who have been inconvenienced as a result of the partial closure, and it looks forward to the full reopening of the affected areas at the earliest opportunity
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