Live Nation Confirms Ticketmaster Breach, User Information Being Sold on Dark Web

Photo Credit: Clint Patterson

Live Nation confirms an investigation of a Ticketmaster data breach in which the personal information of 560 million customers has been compromised.Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation confirms it is investigating a “possible data breach” after a group of hackers claimed to have stolen the personal information of 560 million Ticketmaster customers. The hackers were offering the data for sale on the dark web for $500,000.

A securities filing dated May 20 revealed Ticketmaster parent Live Nation had identified “unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment containing company data.” The following week, hacker group ShinyHunters claimed it had obtained 1.3 terabytes of Ticketmaster user data — including names, addresses, phone numbers, hashed credit card information, and order details.

Though Live Nation claimed on Friday that no sufficient evidence suggested the data breach had a “material impact” on its business operations, the company says it is working to “mitigate risk” to its users and has notified law enforcement. The breach does not appear to have included passwords for Ticketmaster accounts, but users are encouraged to change their passwords as a precaution, regardless.

“As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorized access to personal information,” said Live Nation.

Already, a class action lawsuit is brewing, despite Live Nation’s attempts to downplay the severity of the data breach.The Justice Department reports that ShinyHunters has offered for sale the stolen data of over 60 companies worldwide since 2020. “The victims range from tech companies, to an international stock trading company, to an apparel company, and a nutrition and fitness company,” said the department in January 2023. “Millions of customer records were included in the stolen data.”

Live Nation confirming the data breach incident comes just over a week since the Justice Department sued the company for antitrust, seeking to break up its partnership with Ticketmaster. The DOJ’s lawsuit alleges Live Nation and Ticketmaster have illegally used their monopoly to dominate the live ticket business and eliminate competition. Live Nation owns or controls over 265 live performance venues in North America, including 60-plus of the top 100 amphitheaters in the United States.