Over 500 Million Ticketmaster Users' Data Breached In Alleged Hack

On Wednesday (29 May), Ticketmaster was hit by an alleged data breach, with 560 million customers said to be affected. Whether Australians have been affected is unclear.

Cyber Daily reports that hacker group ShinyHunters—the name referencing Pokémon, formed in 2020 and said to have been involved in numerous data breaches that resulted in stolen information being sold on the dark web—claimed responsibility and is reportedly asking for a one-time price of $US500,000 ($750,000).

The hackers have reportedly posted the alleged stolen data on a web hacking forum. The group claims to have the personal details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers, with 1.3 terabytes of data apparently sorted in 16 folders.

The personal details ShinyHunters claim to have include names, addresses, incomplete credit card numbers – the last four digits and expiry details, phone numbers, and payment details.

“560 million customers full details,” ShinyHunters wrote on the web hacking forum. “Ticket sales, event information, order details.”

The Australian government is investigating the alleged hack.

“The Australian Government is aware of a cyber incident impacting Ticketmaster,” a spokesperson for the Home Affairs Department told CBS News (via the BBC).

“The National Office of Cyber Security is engaging with Ticketmaster to understand the incident.”

Security researcher Kevin Beaumont added, “If Ticketmaster has had a breach of this scale, it is important they inform customers, but it is also important to consider that sometimes criminal hackers make false or inflated claims about data breaches—so people should not be overly concerned until a breach is confirmed.”

Cybersecurity expert Mark Lukie told the ABC, “From a commercial standpoint, it's making them [hackers] lots of money and the more data these organisations have, the more they become a target for these criminal organisations. We should all be looking for multi-factor authentication and additional resources to protect ourselves.”

Australians were affected by a hack claimed by ShinyHunters last September when 193,000 Pizza Hut customers' data was leaked.

The Music has contacted Ticketmaster for comment on how Australians have been affected by the alleged hack.

Last week, the US Department of Justice sued Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, accusing the company of driving up tickets for live events and limiting competition for smaller promoters.

In response, Live Nation said it would protect itself against the “baseless allegations,” stating that the Justice Department’s lawsuit would not solve ticket affordability or availability.