US-based ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster has confirmed that its global database was hacked, which could expose customers’ personal information. Live Nation, which is the parent company of Ticketmaster, admitted in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its subsidiary’s worldwide database was hacked, possibly exposing the personal details of potentially 560 million customers.

In the same statement, Live Nation informed that the incident happened on a server via the third-party cloud data company Snowflake. More information on the attack Live Nation’s filing underscored that on 20 May 2024, the firm detected unauthorised activity within a database that included company data, and it started an inspection with forensic investigators to find out what occurred. In addition, the recording mentions that on 27 May 2024, a criminal threat actor sought to sell Ticketmaster’s alleged data on the dark web.

Soon after the attack, Hackread stated that the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed to be the one responsible for the cyber attack on BreachForums, a hacking website leveraged to support data breaches and the sharing of data. ShinyHunters underlined in its post that it wants USD 500,000 for the 1.3 TB database of customer data, which the hacking group claimed includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card details. On the other hand, in its regulatory filing, Live Nation does not mention how many Ticketmaster users’ data was compromised, nor the criminal threat actor which did it. Despite being asked for comment and additional information on the matter, Live Nation and Ticketmaster did not respond to the request at the time of the announcement.

However, in its filing, the company said that, together with law enforcement officials, it was working on mitigating risk to its users. As part of the investigation, Live Nation discovered that the breach was unlikely to make a material impact on its business operations or financial conditions. Next steps for users Following the attack, Ticketmaster users can safeguard themselves by being cautious against any phishing attempts, monitoring accounts and credit cards, and changing passwords with strong and unique substitutes.

Additionally, Ticketmaster delivered advice in a blog post in April, before the data hack, in which it instructed users to get contact information only from its official website and to be aware of fake customer service phone numbers that are provided in search engines. At the time of the news, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have not offered a public statement in which they address the breach. .