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Record-breaking whisky sale hit by cyber attack
The second part of the world’s largest private whisky collection to be offered at auction has been postponed due to a cyber attack.
Two record-breaking Macallan bottlings form part of ‘The Perfect Collection’
The online sale was the second part of American private collector Richard Gooding’s ‘The Perfect Collection’, which in total contained more than 3,900 bottles of mostly single malt Scotch.
The first phase of the auction, comprising 1,932 bottles, was snapped up for US$4.2 million in February this year. Combined, the sales had been estimated to fetch between £7m and £8m (US$9.2m and US$10.5m).
The remaining bottles of The Perfect Collection went on sale via Perth-based Whisky Auctioneer on 10 April and the auction had been due to run until 20 April. Rare bottles include The Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare, a Glenfiddich 1937 Rare Collection 64 Years Old and The Balvenie 1937 Pure Malt 50 Years Old.
However, a statement on the auctioneer’s website informed that the sale had been targeted by cybercriminals.
The statement said: “At approx. 22.30 (BST) on 21 April, whiskyauctioneer.com experienced a targeted, technologically sophisticated, sustained and malicious attack on our website and databases.
“As a precaution, we have been in touch with our valued customers who may have been impacted by this, so please check your inboxes and follow the suggested next steps.
“The website is currently offline whilst we continue to actively investigate this. The auction of The Perfect Collection: Part Two has been postponed with further updates on this and future auctions to follow.”