Florence, 3 April (LaPresse) – "No damage was caused and no theft took place. The cameras had been in the process of being replaced for a year. The situation was nothing like that at the Louvre; there were cameras at the Galleries, but they were analogue and are now digital. Their replacement was carried out following a police report in 2024 and was, of course, accelerated due to the events at the Louvre, both before (and then also after) the hacker attack. No passwords were stolen. None whatsoever, because the security systems are internal closed-circuit systems and are not open to the outside. Due to the position of the cameras, they are by definition visible to anyone walking around the premises, and this is the case in all museums and public places worldwide. There is no evidence whatsoever that the hackers possessed security maps’. This is the clarification provided by the Uffizi Galleries regarding the report on the alleged hacker attack on the Uffizi contained in an article described as ‘full of inaccuracies, errors and unfounded information that could have been avoided had the museum been given the proper conditions and the opportunity to explain the situation in good time’. At 8.44 pm yesterday evening – the statement explains – the management of the Uffizi Galleries received a single call from an unknown number, without any introductory message. An hour later, it emerged that the caller was a journalist who had already laid out and sent to press two articles concerning the alleged security issues following the hacker attack on 1 February. At the end of the article published today, it is stated that the director of the Uffizi, when ‘contacted’, ‘preferred not to comment’. The piece is riddled with inaccuracies, errors and unfounded information that could have been avoided had the museum been given the proper conditions and the opportunity to explain the situation in good time. As for the bricked-up doors, ‘these are partly security measures required by the fire safety plan, for which the SCIA (Certification of Commencement of Works) was, not coincidentally, submitted to the fire brigade the day before yesterday. This is a historic milestone following decades without fire safety certification and represents a major effort by the Uffizi staff. Others have indeed been added to prevent excessive permeability in the spaces of historic buildings—it is worth noting that these date back to the 1500s—and in view of their changed functions and the changed international context.”
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