Ben Thompson
Ticketmaster has been hit by a massive cyber attack, which has put 560 million customers at risk.
Hackers have obtained the personal data of customers and are threatening to sell it on the dark web.
They are demanding $500,000 from Ticketmaster for the data.
Advert
The US entertainment giant said it had discovered 'unauthorised activity' in a third-party database containing their data.
A criminal actor made the threat of selling the data on May 27.
A cybercrime group called ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for the hacking.
Experts have urged customers to change their passwords as the hacking claims came to light.
Among the data being put up for sale by the hackers is names, addresses, emails, phone numbers and partial credit card numbers.
Samples of the information have already been posted on a hacker forum.
Live Nation, who merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, said: "We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement.
"As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorised access to personal information.
"We continue to evaluate the risks and our remediation efforts are ongoing."
Authorities in Australia and the US are reportedly talking to Ticketmaster whilst figuring out how to respond to the breach.
Ticketmaster is the world's largest ticket seller, supplying tickets to live music events, in addition to sport and theatre events.
This data breach comes as Ticketmaster and Live Nation are both facing legal action from the US government.
The government has accused them of operating an illegal monopoly over live events in the country.
US attorney general Merrick Garland said: "It's time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation's monopoly.
"It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster."
Ticketmaster came under fire in November 2022 when their site crashed during a presale event for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
They claimed that their site had been overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots.
The controversy even led Swift to come out and condemn them on social media.
Swift claimed it was 'excruciating' to watch 'mistakes happen with no recourse'.
In the wake of the upset, congressional hearings were held to think of ways to better protect consumers.
Fans were left shocked at news of the hacking, taking to social media to react.
One person wrote: "[The hackers] better not touch my Gag City tickets."
Another commented: "If they touch my Rita Ora tickets, I'm going to pop off."
UNILAD have reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.