Live Nation, the company that owns Ticketmaster, has acknowledged that its database experienced a security breach after hackers claimed to have obtained the personal information of 560 million customers.
The ShinyHunters group, which has taken credit for the breach, claims that the compromised data consists of names, addresses, phone numbers, and some credit card information from Ticketmaster users around the globe.
A hacking group is apparently asking for a ransom of $500,000 (£400,000) to stop them from selling the data to third parties.
In a report submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Live Nation revealed that on May 27th, "a malicious individual claimed to have Company user data for sale on the dark web," and that the company is currently looking into the matter.
Live Nation has not yet determined the exact number of customers impacted by the data breach.
The Ticketmaster data breach came to light when hackers advertised the stolen information on Wednesday night. Despite this, Ticketmaster did not acknowledge the incident to the press or its customers immediately, choosing instead to inform its shareholders later on Friday.
"Up to the moment of this report, the event has not had, and we don't anticipate it will probably have, a significant effect on our general business activities, financial health, or performance outcomes. We are still assessing the risks and our corrective actions are in progress," the statement continued.
Ticketmaster, a major ticket sales website based in America, ranks among the largest online platforms for purchasing tickets worldwide. This cyberattack is notable for its extensive number of global victims, although the level of sensitivity of the compromised data remains uncertain.
Scientists have raised alarms about a broader, continuous hacking incident that involves a cloud service provider named Snowflake, which many major corporations use for cloud data storage. Snowflake has alerted its clients about a surge in cyber threats aimed at some of their accounts.
It is believed that these breaches are connected and that additional incidents might be revealed.
A promotional post featuring certain data samples reportedly acquired through the breach has been shared on BreachForums. This is a recently revived hacking forum on the dark web where cybercriminals trade stolen information and hacking tools.