Canada’s privacy commissioner has initiated an investigation into Ticketmaster following a significant data breach that compromised the personal information of over 560 million customers globally, including Canadians. This breach, first reported by Global News, has raised serious concerns about data security.
“Ticketmaster holds the personal information of millions of Canadians. The investigation will allow us to understand why this cyber incident happened and what must be done to address this situation and prevent it from happening again,” stated privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne.
The probe targets Ticketmaster Canada and its parent company, U.S.-based Live Nation Entertainment Inc., following a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. This development comes nearly two months after Global News revealed that Canadians were likely among those affected by the breach.
In the incident, hackers stole names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers. The stolen data was subsequently put up for sale on the dark web last May for US $500,000.
“We are fully committed to protecting your information, and deeply regret that this incident occurred,” Ticketmaster communicated to its customers in an email on July 8. The company disclosed that an unauthorized third party accessed information from a cloud database hosted by a third-party data services provider, with the breach occurring between April 2 and May 18, 2024.
Ticketmaster is currently investigating the “security incident” with the help of external experts and in cooperation with U.S. federal law enforcement. The company is also offering affected customers a free 12-month credit or identity monitoring service through TransUnion of Canada, Inc.
An alleged sample of the leaked information, shared with Global News by a whistleblower, included at least 527 Canadian home addresses.
The privacy commissioner’s investigation will determine if Ticketmaster complied with Canadian privacy laws and breach notification requirements. “Data breaches have surged over the last decade, and we have seen a significant increase in the scale and complexity of these incidents,” Dufresne added
