Hackers leak Ticketmaster’s barcode data for 170,000 Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets online

As the data security snafu at cloud storage provider Snowflake continues to unfold, cybercriminals now claim to have stolen Ticketmaster’s barcode data for over 160,000 Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets.

Read more about the Ticketmaster data breach in these related articles:

• Notorious hacking group claims Ticketmaster data breach; Personal details of 560 million customers potentially compromised
• Ticketmaster starts notifying data breach victims; Customers in the US, Canada and Mexico are affected

This data was leaked as a belated gift in light of the Independence Day celebrations in the US by the threat actor behind the initial sale of Ticketmaster’s stolen customer database.

Sp1d3r’s most recent listing was made on a popular hacking forum under a new username, ‘Sp1d3rHunters,’ alongside an extortion demand for Ticketmaster. The hacking group allegedly possess an additional 30 million barcodes for other high-profile events.

"Pay us $2million USD or we leak all 680M of your users information and 30million more event barcodes including: more Taylor Swift events, P!nk, Sting, Sporting events F1 Formula Racing, MLB, NFL and thousands more events," the threat actor said.

Sp1d3rHunters’ post lists 170,000 Taylor Swift Eras Tour event barcodes for upcoming autumn concert dates in Miami, New Orleans and Indianapolis,

According to BleepingComputer, a small sample of barcode data alongside the post includes:

- Value used to create a scannable barcode

- Seat information

- Face value of tickets and other data

- Details on how interested parties can turn the data into a scannable barcode to be used at events

In response to the news, Ticketmaster says it has comprehensive security measures in place so no compromised barcodes/stolen tickets could be used by criminals.

"Ticketmaster's SafeTix technology protects tickets by automatically refreshing a new and unique barcode every few seconds so it cannot be stolen or copied," Ticketmaster told BleepingComputer. "This is just one of many fraud protections we implement to keep tickets safe and secure."

The company also denied negotiating with the threat actors or making any payments to have the data deleted.

Want to find out if your data is part of the Ticketmaster data breach or other high-impact security incidents?

Use Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection to manage and secure the digital you. Once you’ve subscribed, you can quickly discover the extent of your digital footprint and the data breaches and leaks containing your information. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the easier it is for you to react and mitigate potential security risks.

What does this mean for Swifties and other concertgoers?

While there’s no denying that Ticketmaster can quickly clean up the alleged barcode breach, we urge Taylor Swift fans and customers in search of future event tickets to remain highly vigilant against scams that may leverage the data and tutorial on making the barcode data scannable.

Use only official vendors when purchasing your concert tickets and be extremely wary of offers for any sold-out concert dates.

You can also use this handy guide on spotting and protecting against Ticketmaster scams.

If you’ve just returned home from your vacation and are not fully up to speed with the data breach events that have taken the internet by storm, stick to our blog for more news and educational articles to help you stay safe.

For online safety and scam awareness, we recommend using Bitdefender Scamio, our free scam detector and prevention service for anyone with a Bitdefender account.

If you’re suspicious about a certain phone call, email, SMS or post, simply describe the situation to our AI-powered chatbot and let it guide you to safety. Scamio is available on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or a web browser for free!  For localized versions, check Scamio in  France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, Australia and the UK.