West Side Rag
  • TOP NEWS
  • OPEN/CLOSED
  • FOOD
  • SCHOOLS
  • OUTDOORS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • ART & CULTURE
  • POLITICS
  • COLUMNS
  • CRIME
  • HISTORY
  • ABSURDITY
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR STORY
    • CONTRIBUTORS
    • CONTACT
West Side Rag
No Result
View All Result
SUPPORT THE RAG

Search the site

No Result
View All Result
Get WSR FREE in your inbox
SUPPORT THE RAG

Updated: Pirates of the High C’s – The Met Opera Box Office Gets Hacked

December 14, 2022 | 6:56 AM - Updated on December 16, 2022 | 5:07 AM
in ART, CRIME, NEWS
7

By Gretchen Berger

The Metropolitan Opera is still reeling from a cyberattack on its website that disrupted and caused its box-office ticketing to come to a screeching halt last week. The cyberattack also hit the Met’s computer system, call center, and website, which normally process more than $200,000 daily in ticket sales. According to various news reports, the motive or identity of the hackers hasn’t yet been identified, but the Met is working with cybersecurity experts. The FBI is also on the case.

Whether Russia is involved in the hack is unknown, but The New York Times observed the following: “The Met has been outspoken in its support of Ukraine during the Russian invasion, organizing a concert this year to benefit relief efforts in the country and parting ways with Anna Netrebko, the Russian soprano, after she failed to comply with the company’s demand that she distance herself from President Vladimir V. Putin.”

After the attack, the Met Opera (@MetOpera) tweeted:

Important Ticketing Update: While the cyberattack against the Met continues to impact our network, we are grateful to our friends @LincolnCenter, who have allowed us to offer tickets to select performances through their website.

According to Crain’s NY, all planned performances have continued throughout the disruption, but the company has been unable to make new ticket sales, process rush tickets, or issue exchanges. Payroll and other key internal system are also down.

This comes at a particularly bad time for the Met, which is emerging from a one-and-a-half year hiatus and faced plummeting sales during the COVID pandemic. Box-office issues continue to complicate and impede the company’s financial health and recovery.

To help out during this crisis, Lincoln Center is selling tickets to Met performances, which were made available Friday for just $50 a ticket on their website. For ticket sales info, click here.

Update: The Metropolitan Opera website was restored around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 15. They posted the following on their website:

“After suffering a cyberattack that temporarily impacted our network systems, we’re pleased to announce that the Met is now able to process ticket orders through our website and in person at our box office. Based upon our ongoing investigations into the recent cyberattack, we would like to reassure our customers that ticketing customer data, including credit card information used when purchasing tickets, has not been stolen. We do not keep credit card information in the systems that were affected by the cyberattack. Thank you for your patience.”

Met General Manager Peter Gelb “tamped down the theory” that Russia was behind the hack, according to The New York Times, “saying that the attack appeared to be the work of an organized criminal gang.”

Correction: We originally wrote that the outage occurred on December 9th. It was days earlier, although exactly when is not clear. We are continuing to investigate.

Share this article:
SUPPORT THE RAG
guest

guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
West Side Rag
Author
West Side Rag
2 years ago

Thanks, Brandon. Sources are unclear about the start of the outage. But it was not December 9th. Corrected.

0
Reply
Fraud Freud
Fraud Freud
2 years ago

Re: above caption: “…causing its box office to come to a SCREECHING halt….”
Hmmmm…”screeching…a “Freudian Slip” when discussing opera, yes?/no?/fuh-gedd-aboud-it!

0
Reply
Phoebe
Phoebe
2 years ago
Reply to  Fraud Freud

Sounds like you have a case of Fraudenfreude!

2
Reply
mark
mark
2 years ago

Knee jerk reaction to blame everything on Russia. Hackers are active around the world always looking for easy targets.

3
Reply
Jen
Jen
2 years ago
Reply to  mark

Must be Putin or Trump. Who else?

1
Reply
EdNY
EdNY
2 years ago
Reply to  mark

I didn’t see anything in the article that assigns blame to Russia.

1
Reply
NotImpressed
NotImpressed
2 years ago

The website is back up!

0
Reply

YOU MIGHT LIKE...

Man Has Women Moviegoers at Popular UWS Theater on Edge With Strange Pattern of Behavior
ART

UWS AMC Lincoln Center Theater Floods: Reopens After Short Closure

July 15, 2025 | 4:17 PM
Free Shakespeare in the Park Returning to Redone Delacorte Theater This Summer: Details
ART

Free Shakespeare in the Park Returning to Redone Delacorte Theater This Summer: Details

July 15, 2025 | 3:15 PM
Previous Post

Photos: Central Park in December

Next Post

Openings and Closings: Zabar’s Gift Showroom; Ruzgar Fruit and Vegetable Cart; Crumbl Cookies; Poke Doke; Coco-Mat; Verizon; Starbucks

this week's events image
Next Post
Openings and Closings: Zabar’s Gift Showroom; Ruzgar Fruit and Vegetable Cart; Crumbl Cookies; Poke Doke; Coco-Mat; Verizon; Starbucks

Openings and Closings: Zabar's Gift Showroom; Ruzgar Fruit and Vegetable Cart; Crumbl Cookies; Poke Doke; Coco-Mat; Verizon; Starbucks

Amazing but Frightening New Artificial Intelligence Technology; Try It Here

Amazing but Frightening New Artificial Intelligence Technology; Try It Here

Fundraiser Started to Help Find Drexyll Tolstoy, UWS Man Missing for Nearly 3 Months

Fundraiser Started to Help Find Drexyll Tolstoy, UWS Man Missing for Nearly 3 Months

  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
  • NEWSLETTER
  • WSR MERCH!
  • ADVERTISE
  • EVENTS
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • TERMS OF USE
  • SITE MAP
Site design by RLDGROUP

© 2025 West Side Rag | All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • TOP NEWS
  • THIS WEEK’S EVENTS
  • OPEN/CLOSED
  • FOOD
  • SCHOOLS
  • OUTDOORS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • ART & CULTURE
  • POLITICS
  • COLUMNS
  • CRIME
  • HISTORY
  • ABSURDITY
  • ABOUT
    • OUR STORY
    • CONTRIBUTORS
    • CONTACT US
  • WSR SHOP

© 2025 West Side Rag | All rights reserved.