Ticketmaster UK Suffers User Data Breach

Ticketmaster U.K. revealed that over the weekend it identified malicious software on a customer support product hosted by Inbenta Technologies, an external third-party supplier to Ticketmaster.

The breach was discovered on June 23, and the company says less than five percent of its global customers have been affected. Customers in North American have not been impacted.

“As soon as we discovered the malicious software, we disabled the Inbenta product across all Ticketmaster websites,” the company wrote in a post. “As a result of Inbenta’s product running on Ticketmaster International websites, some of our customers’ personal or payment information may have been accessed by an unknown third-party.”

The incident may have affected U.K. customers who purchased, or attempted to purchase, tickets between February and June 23, 2018, as well as international customers who purchased, or attempted to purchase, tickets between September 2017 and June 23, 2018.

The company says that if a customer hasn’t received an email, then it’s not believed they have been affected by the breach.

“Forensic teams and security experts are working around the clock to understand how the data was compromised,” the company added. “We are working with relevant authorities, as well as credit card companies and banks.”

According to The Verge, affected customers should reset their passwords. In addition, Ticketmaster is offering a free 12-month service that will monitor instances of identity theft for those customers.

The news comes at a time when Ticketmaster is facing competition in the form of Rival, who is looking to use facial recognition to disrupt the ticketing business and take on Ticketmaster.

The startup has raised $33 million from investors, and teams from every major sports league in the U.S. and the English Premier League have signed on as clients, as well as their home arenas and stadiums.

Leading Rival is Nathan Hubbard, who was in charge of Ticketmaster for four years after it merged with Live Nation Entertainment. He wants his new company to be the first serious competitor Ticketmaster — which holds an estimated 80 percent of the market — has faced in decades.

“No one has materially made a big run at Ticketmaster in the past generation,” said Upfront Ventures partner Greg Bettinelli.