Concert promoter Live Nation says it is investigating a cyber attack at its Ticketmaster unit, days after experts urged customers to change their passwords.
Hackers are allegedly offering to sell customer data on the dark web.
The US entertainment giant said it had discovered “unauthorised activity” on 20 May in a third-party cloud database that mostly contained Ticketmaster data.
Live Nation added that “a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be company user data for sale via the dark web” on 27 May.
It comes a few days after a little-known cybercrime group named ShinyHunters reportedly said it had stolen user data of more than 500 million customers of the online ticket sales platform.
The hackers are reportedly demanding around $500,000 (£400,000) in a ransom payment to prevent the data being sold.
The breach has not had and is unlikely to have a material impact on Live Nation’s business, the company stated.
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Customers were urged by experts to change their passwords after the hacking claims emerged.
The Times reported names, addresses, emails, phone numbers and the partial credit card details from Ticketmaster were being offered for sale online.
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ShinyHunters posted samples of the information on a hacker forum while asking $500,000 for a “one-time sale”, the publication added.
Live Nation did not mention ShinyHunters in its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The firm said: “We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement.
“As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorised access to personal information.
“We continue to evaluate the risks and our remediation efforts are ongoing.”
Authorities in Australia and the US are reportedly talking to Ticketmaster to understand and respond to the incident.
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Image: US attorney general Merrick Garland. Pic: AP
The companies are also facing a landmark consumer class action lawsuit which is seeking $5bn (£4bn) in damages on behalf of potentially millions of ticket purchasers.
“It’s time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” US attorney general Merrick Garland said.
“It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”
Ticketmaster sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift tour.
The company said the site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites.
At the time, the superstar criticised Ticketmaster on social media, saying it was “excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse” after Swift’s fans reported long wait times and site outages during the presales.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and sexual assault – which reportedly took place on the set of EastEnders.
The alleged incident happened on the set of the BBC soap at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, according to The Sun newspaper.
Hertfordshire Police confirmed a man in his 50s was arrested after the report in Eldon Avenue, Borehamwood, on 7 May.
The man is accused of sexual assault and common assault in relation to two victims, the force said.
The suspect is on bail while inquiries continue, police added.
EastEnders said in a statement: “While we would never comment on individuals, EastEnders has on-site security and well-established procedures in place to safeguard the safety and welfare of everyone who works on the show.”
BST Hyde Park festival has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot.
Lynne, 77, was due to play alongside his band on Sunday but has been forced to withdraw from the event following a “systemic infection”.
The London show was supposed to be a “final goodbye” from ELO following their farewell US tour.
Organisers said on Saturday that Lynne was “heartbroken” at being unable to perform.
A statement read: “Jeff has been battling a systemic infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time nor will he be able to reschedule.
“The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff’s mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time.”
They later confirmed the whole of Sunday’s event would be cancelled.
“Ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details,” another statement said.
Stevie Wonder played the festival on Saturday – now its final event of 2025.
US rock band The Doobie Brothers and blues rock singer Steve Winwood were among those who had been due to perform to before ELO’s headline performance.
The cancellation comes after the band, best known for their hit Mr Blue Sky, pulled out of a performance due to take place at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on Thursday.
ELO was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan.
They first split in 1986, before frontman Lynne resurrected the band in 2014.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Image: Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”