Hacking group ShinyNation claimed they breached the security of Ticketmaster. The hackers allegedly stole the data of 560 million customers.
ShinyNation said they obtained names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, order information and partial credit card data. The hackers offered to sell the 1.3 terabytes of data for $500,000.
Australian officials are investigating the alleged data breach. The FBI reportedly offered to help with Australia’s investigation.
“The Australian Government is aware of a cyber incident impacting Ticketmaster,” an Australia Home Affairs Department spokesperson told CBS News. “The National Office of Cyber Security is engaging with Ticketmaster to understand the incident.”
According to the U.S. Justice Department, ShinyHunters stole data from more than 60 companies between 2020 and 2021. The alleged breach of Ticketmaster’s data added to the company’s troubles. The Justice Department sued the prominent ticket seller and its parent company Live Nation for “monopolization and other unlawful conduct.”
“We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”
The antitrust lawsuit accused Live Nation and Ticketmaster of engaging in “a variety of tactics to eliminate competition and monopolize markets.” The Justice Department said the company restricts artists’ access to venues and threatens venues for working with competitors, among other allegations.
Dan Wall, Live Nation’s executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, claimed the lawsuit was “absurd.”
“DOJ is not helping consumers with their actual problems,” Wall said. “This is why the government has never been less popular—because they pretend they are fixing your problems when instead they are pandering to a narrow set of political interests.”
The Justice Department’s lawsuit sought structural changes. Successful litigation may result in separating Live Nation from Ticketmaster.