The data of Ticketmaster customers was compromised in May, Live Nation confirmed in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC). ShinyHunters, the group that claimed responsibility for the May hacking, said that information from 560 million accounts was collected during the breach, according to a post from the hacker group shared on cybersecurity news platform Hackread. Live Nation, in its filing with the SEC, did not say how many accounts were impacted. The collection of data included names, encrypted credit card numbers, phone numbers and other personal information, and was taken from a third-party data service provider, according to Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster users who had their data compromised were notified by email on June 22 — nearly a month after Live Nation made its regulatory filing with the SEC. To help customers, the company announced that it would provide affected users with free credit or identity monitoring services.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who has been at the forefront of the legislative movement against Ticketmaster and Live Nation's "anticompetitive behavior," said in an email that he was troubled by the data leak from Ticketmaster.
"I am deeply alarmed by Ticketmaster's failure to notify consumers fully and promptly about the May hack. There are urgent concerns about what information was stolen and how that data might be exploited," Blumenthal said in a statement to Hearst Connecticut. "I am monitoring the situation closely and urge any consumers who may have been impacted to enroll in the free credit monitoring service Ticketmaster is providing, and be vigilant of their bank accounts for any suspicious activity."
His office added that it had not received any complaints from Connecticut consumers about the hack as of Tuesday.
The office of Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said that it is "aware of the breach and monitoring the situation." His office suggested that consumers who had their data exposed in the leak should check their statements for fraudulent charges and ask for new cards if needed. Tong and Blumenthal did not have the number of Connecticut Ticketmaster accounts impacted. Ticketmaster did not provide Hearst Connecticut with the number of Ticketmaster accounts in Connecticut impacted by the data leak.
Last year, 620 million tickets were sold through Ticketmaster with 145 million users attending events, according to Live Nation's full year report.
In May, Tong, the U.S. Justice Department and attorneys general from 28 other states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation for their "monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry."
In addition to the May data breach, a group of hackers last week claimed to have accessed bar codes for thousands of Taylor Swift tickets. Ticketmaster stated that due to its technology, which resets barcodes, the codes stolen by the hackers are unusable.
ShinyHunters reportedly demanded $500,000 to ensure that the information was not sold to other parties on the dark web, according to the BBC. Live Nation said that it is launching an investigation and reiterated in its filing to the SEC that the hacking attempt has no "impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations."
The hacking group that claimed responsibility for the Ticketmaster data leak was founded in 2020 and has been attributed to a number of high-profile hacking attempts including AT&T Wireless, Pluto TV and Microsoft.
Live Nation operates multiple venues around Connecticut including the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford and Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport. Ticketmaster is used as the ticketing platform for these venues as well as other venues around the state including the XL Center in Hartford, which is hosting concerts by Sabrina Carpenter and Chris Tomlin later this year.
The Live Nation-owned C3 Presents event production company is running the Soundside (formerly Sound on Sound) music festival in Bridgeport, which will have Noah Kahan and the Foo Fighters as this year's headliners. Founders Entertainment, which previously had a major role in organizing the festival, has combined with C3 Presents.
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