Ticketmaster, an online platform to sell tickets related to entertainment and media is in news for hacking its competitor’s server to gain intelligence. The victim company is another ticket seller named CrowdSurge and is said to receive an amount of $10 million from the Ticketmaster for breaking into the network unlawfully.
As per the sources reporting to Cybersecurity Insiders, Ticketmaster stole credentials from a former employee of CrowdSurge and accessed the latter’s database between 2013 to 2015 by snooping.
After gathering evidence, CrowdSurge filed a lawsuit that came to a file hearing on Wednesday before Attorney Seth DuCharme at the Eastern District court of New York.
The court charged five counts criminal indictment against Ticketmaster for conspiring Computer Intrusion and other cyber fraudulent offenses. The criminal financial penalty is said to act as a warning to Ticketmaster against indulging in similar digital abuses like computer frauds and abuse act in near future.
Live Nation Entertainment, the owner of Ticketmaster has agreed to pay the fine to the US Department of Treasury within a fortnight or 10 working days, whatever comes earlier.
Highly placed sources say that Live Nation’s subsidiary hired an employee of the victim company who worked from May 2010 to August 2012. They then used the knowledge and the credentials of the former employee to conduct espionage/ snooping on the business being done by the CrowdSurge- a clear-cut breach of confidentiality contract signed by the employee while leaving the firm.
Note- Crowdsurge has merged with Songkick in 2015 and both are now a part of Warner Music Group since 2018. So, the lawsuit against Live Nation Ticketmaster was filed by Songkick in Dec’16 as CrowdSurge employees joined Songkick making it a sole proprietary.
