IVAT nation confirmed in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that its Ticketmaster subsidiary suffered a data breach.
The lawsuit stated that on May 20, the company noticed “unauthorized activity” in a database that contained “company data” and subsequently “launched an investigation with industry-leading forensic investigators to understand what happened.” The lawsuit went on to describe that on May 27, a “criminal threat actor” offered to sell, what was alleged to be, Ticketmaster data on the “dark web.”
What do we know about the Ticketmaster data breach and the force behind it?
Hackread reported On May 28, the hacker group called ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the online forum BreachForums, a hacking website used to facilitate data breaches and the sharing of that data. In the post, the hacking group says it is seeking $500,000 for the 1.3TB database of compromised customer data, which it claims includes names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card details of 560 million users. .
Live Nation’s regulatory filing does not indicate how much of its Ticketmaster users’ data was compromised by the hack, nor does it confirm whether ShinyHunters is to blame.
TIME has reached out to Live Nation and Ticketmaster for comment and more information.
In the document, Live Nation stated that it was “working to mitigate the risk to [their] users” and was cooperating with law enforcement authorities. They went on to say that in their investigation, the breach was unlikely to cause “a material impact on our overall business operations or our financial condition or results of operations.”
What can Ticketmaster customers do to protect themselves?
Following this breach, Ticketmaster users can protect themselves by remaining vigilant against phishing attempts, monitoring accounts and credit cards, and changing passwords using strong and unique alternatives.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have not yet released a public statement addressing the breach, but in Ticketmaster website blog In April, before the data hack, they provided general advice on how to protect information and tickets. They advised users to only obtain contact information from the official Ticketmaster website and to be aware of fake customer service phone numbers that may appear in search engines.
Ticketmaster data breach comes at difficult time
Ticketmaster specifically dominates the live events market in the United States – so much so that on May 23, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster, accusing them of running a “Illegal monopoly” about live events in America – destroying the competition and raising prices for fans.
According to the complaint, in 2022 “Ticketmaster was responsible for at least 70% of the total nominal value associated with all tickets sold in large arenas and amphitheatres.” In stark contrast, “no other rival got more than 14%.”
In the DOJ lawsuit, Live Nation is accused of multiple tactics, including using long-term contracts to prevent venues from choosing rival tickets, preventing venues from using multiple ticket sellers, and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they didn’t. choose Ticketmaster.
What do we know about ShinyHunters?
The hacker group claiming responsibility, ShinyHunters, is well known for its data hacking from several companies in 2020 and 2021, including Indonesian e-commerce site Tokopedia, Indian education platform Unacademy, Wattpad, AT&T Wireless, and Microsoft. In January, a member of the ShinyHunters hacker group – a French citizen named Sebastien Raoult – was arrested and convicted in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three years in prison.
In a statement following the arrest, the Justice Department said that between April 2020 and July 2021, ShinyHunters published sales of hacked data from more than 60 companies that stole hundreds of millions of customer records and caused estimated losses to victim companies. . exceed US$6 million.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
