Ticketmaster just had a massive data breach—if the hackers behind the attack are to be believed. According to HackRead, the ShinyHunters hacking group is claiming it hacked Ticketmaster, stealing 1.3TB of data from 560 million users. The hacking group posted the data on Breach Forums (a site ShinyHunters owns), offering all of its loot for $500,000 for a buyer willing to pay.
The reported data set includes personal information such as first and last names, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of credit and debit cards, card expiration dates, and customer fraud data. However, it also includes Ticketmaster account information as well, such as ticket sales, event information, and orders.
ShinyHunters says it has reached out to Ticketmaster regarding the hack, but that the company has not yet commented.
This Ticketmaster hack comes just days after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation, accusing parent company Live Nation Entertainment of engaging in monopolistic practices and behaviors. Live Nation Entertainment stems from a 2010 merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, and since then, the DOJ claims the company has blocked venues from using other ticket companies through anti-competitive means.
The Justice Department believes Live Nation Entertainment's stronghold on the events industry has resulted in both inflated ticket prices and a worse experience for consumers. Ticketmaster could not handle demand for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour ticket sales back in 2022, for example, which lead some to wonder if more competition would have incentivized a better customer experience even among historic demand.
This legal battle will likely extend for some time, but it's an interesting backdrop for these breach allegations. If ShinyHunters really did breach Ticketmaster and steal the data of over 500 million users, it's a bad look at a bad time for the company. Plenty of companies are targets of data breaches these days, but when the government claims you're engaging in monopolistic activities, and you lose the data for over half a billion users, it doesn't put you in the best light.
Unfortunately, there's not much to do at this point, as Ticketmaster has not yet publicly commented on the breach. We don't even know if it happened, so there's no official steps to take yet.
That said, there are some things you can do to keep yourself protected in general. First, it might not be a bad time to change your Ticketmaster password. It's not clear if this was part of the hack, but resetting your password is a good way to keep bad actors out of your account.
You may also want to start using a credit monitoring service, such as Equifax or Experian, to make sure you aren't the victim of fraud. If ShinyHunters really did steal this information, it may make it possible for other bad actors to steal your identity. These services can alert you to any fraudulent behavior, and walk you through how to respond.
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