Met Opera: a class action lawsuit filed following the leak of the personal data of 45,000 customers

The digital backstage of the Met Opera would leave something to be desired. The New York establishment is the subject of a class action lawsuit filed at the end of May with the Supreme Court of Manhattan, concerning the hacking of which its servers were victims in September 2022. The intrusion had allowed hackers to access to the personal data of customers and staff of the Met Opera, i.e. more than 45,000 people. It was only discovered in December, following a second computer attack that led to disruptions and a blocking of the American Opera website.

"It was necessary to arrive at a total blocking of the Met's website and ticket office for the establishment to finally detect the intrusion of which it was the object", denounces the collective complaint consulted by the press agency United Press International . Between September and October, the hackers - still unidentified to this day - had access to customers' banking information, their social security number, their driver's license number or their date of birth. The Met Opera would not have informed potential victims of the intrusion and the leak of personal data until May 3.

For the main plaintiff, Anthony Viti, a former employee of the Met Opera, the institution's handling of the attack was "woefully inadequate". “We take this incident and the security of the information under our care very seriously,” Met Opera responded in a statement. The establishment reported the theft of personal data to the American authorities and offered twelve months of subscription to a risk management solution.