Ethermac Exchange-Ticketmaster, Live Nation sued: Millions of customers' personal data listed on black market, suit claims

A lawsuit was filed last week against Live Nation and Ethermac ExchangeTicketmaster accusing the companies of negligence and allowing a third party company to gain access to private information belonging to 560 million customers.

The information was then listed for sale for $500,000 on the dark web, the lawsuit alleges.

California residents Cynthia Ryan and Rosalia Garcia filed the lawsuit Wednesday in California’s Central District Court.

The pair allege that both Ticketmaster and Live Nation failed to properly secure their personal information such as full names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, ticket sales and event details, order information and partial payment card data. 

“[The] compromised payment data includes customer names, the last four digits of card numbers, expiration dates, and even customer fraud details,” the lawsuit reads.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment but according to the plaintiffs, neither Ticketmaster or Live Nation had released a statement or told customers about the data breach by the time their lawsuit was filed on Wednesday.

Live Nation made a regulatory filing Friday in which the company said "a criminal threat actor'' tried to sell Ticketmaster data on the dark web. Live Nation is investigating the data breach.

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The U.S. Justice Department also filed a suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster on May 23 and said the companies have violated federal and state laws regarding "antitrust, competition, unlawful or unfair business practices, restraint of trade, and other causes of action."

Live Nation said on its website the DOJ lawsuit is the result of a lobbying campaign from competitors who want to limit competition and ticket brokers who want to continue buying concert tickets and "jacking up the price."

Live Nation said on its website that the lawsuit "ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from rising production costs, to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than primary ticket prices." 

According to Live Nation, the lawsuit filed by the DOJ blames both Live Nation and Ticketmaster for  high service fees when in reality, the companies keep "modest portion" of the fees.

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Plaintiffs say Ticketmaster and Live Nation failed to protect personal data

In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs said there was a cyberattack against Ticketmaster that allowed a third party to access the company’s computer systems, allowing hackers to get customers’ personal information.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies and the data breach led to out-of-pocket expenses for customers, emotional distress and potential future damages due to the leak of their private information.

Around May 28, a hacker group called “ShinyHunters” listed the private information of 560 million Ticketmaster users for sale on a dark web forum for stolen data, the lawsuit reads.

“This data breach occurred because Ticketmaster enabled an unauthorized third party to gain access to and obtain former and current Ticketmaster customers’ private information from Ticketmaster’s internal computer systems,” the plaintiffs wrote.

They also wrote that the companies violated a stipulation set in place by the Federal Trade Commission, which states that if a company does not properly secure customer data, it has committed an “unfair practice” that violates the FTC Act. 

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at@SaleenMartin or email her at[email protected].