Ticketmaster: Hackers allegedly steal data from 560 million people

The hacker group ShinyHunters is said to have succeeded in stealing the data of 560 million users of the ticket service provider Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation. They are said to have downloaded a total of 1.3 terabytes of data from the suppliers' servers. The group announced the coup itself on 28 May when they offered the data for sale on the darknet forums BreachForums, which they operate, in exchange for 500,000 US dollars. That's around 462,000 euros or 453,000 francs. Users all over the world could be affected.

The data apparently comes from Live Nation Entertainment, a US concert organiser. Ticketmaster, which also organises and markets many concerts and events in Europe, merged with the company in 2010. Live Nation and Ticketmaster are among the largest ticket sellers in the world.

The website Hackread first reported on the data leak. A screenshot shows that the data offered by the hacker group is said to contain personal information such as the names, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers of the victims. The purchase history, credit card details and stored fraud information of some users are also said to be among the stolen data.

So far no confirmation from Ticketmaster or Live Nation

The magazine Heise has randomly checked test data. It states that the data looks plausible. In some cases, addresses and names from the test data set actually belong together. Only the last four digits of the credit card numbers are visible, but the validity dates are included in full.

However, neither Live Nation nor Ticketmaster have commented on the incident. A data leak has also not yet been announced - as a listed company, Live Nation would be obliged to do so.

Addition: On 31 May Ticketmaster confirmed the news and reported the data leak to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

If you have bought tickets via Ticketmaster in recent years, you should therefore change your password for the account. Cyber security expert Jake Moore also advises you to be very careful with future calls or emails from people claiming to be acting on behalf of Ticketmaster.

ShinyHunters is a notorious black hat hacker group

The hacker community ShinyHunters is well known to investigative authorities. As black hat hackers, they search for security vulnerabilities in order to steal data. Hackers who call themselves black hat hack for their own gain or to cause chaos and damage. They are the opposite of white hat hackers, who use their skills to draw attention to security gaps or injustice.

ShinyHunters hackers are said to be responsible for several major data thefts in recent years. Large companies such as Microsoft have also been affected.

The group operates the BreachForums website. In the forums, black hat hackers exchange information about techniques and offer services, tools and pornography. Ticketmaster data is also offered here. Like ShinyHunters, this website is the target of investigations and official measures. BreachForums was last shut down in May of this year, but was back online just a few hours later. <p