Australia looking into alleged Ticketmaster hack

The Department of Home Affairs in Australia is currently working with Ticketmaster to investigate an alleged hack that has affected over 500 million customers. The hackers, known as the ShinyHunters group, are reportedly demanding a ransom of $500,000 to prevent the stolen personal details from being sold to other parties. While Ticketmaster, one of the world's largest online ticket sales platforms, has not yet confirmed a security breach, reports suggest that a group of hackers has obtained access to the names, addresses, phone numbers, and partial payment details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers worldwide. In response to the situation, the FBI has offered its assistance to Australian authorities. ShinyHunters has been linked to a series of high-profile data breaches that have resulted in significant financial losses for the affected companies. For instance, in 2021, the group sold a genuine database of stolen information from 70 million customers of US telecoms firm AT&T. Furthermore, almost 200,000 Pizza Hut customers in Australia had their data breached in September last year. This latest alleged hack coincides with the relaunch of BreachForums, a site on the dark web where hackers buy and sell stolen material and information to facilitate hacking activities. Although the FBI had previously taken action against the domain in March 2023 by arresting its administrator Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, the site has resurfaced, as reported by tech media. Users of these forums often exaggerate the scale of their hacking activities to attract attention from other hackers. While these forums are where large stolen databases first appear, they can also contain false allegations and claims. Security researcher Kevin Beaumont emphasizes the importance of Ticketmaster informing its customers if a breach of this scale has occurred. However, he also points out that criminal hackers sometimes make false or inflated claims about data breaches, so people should not be overly concerned until a breach is confirmed. In the past, individuals declaring large batches of data have turned out to be duplicates of previous hacks rather than newly stolen information. If verified, this hack could be the most significant breach ever in terms of numbers and the extent of the data stolen. This is not the first time Ticketmaster has faced security issues. In 2020, it admitted to hacking into one of its competitors and agreed to pay a $10 million fine. In November, it was allegedly hit by a cyber attack that caused problems with selling tickets for Taylor Swift's Era's tour. Recently, US regulators sued Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, accusing the entertainment giant of using illegal tactics to maintain a monopoly over the live music industry. The lawsuit from the Department of Justice stated that the firm's practices had kept out competitors, resulting in higher ticket prices and worse service for customers. The BBC has reached out to Live Nation for comment.