$6.5 Million Class-Action Suit Over Ticketmaster Data Breach Filed

A law firm in the UK has launched a $6.5 million lawsuit against Ticketmaster over the massive data breach that took place in the summer of 2018, according to multiple media outlets. The claim was launched in Liverpool on behalf of over 650 clients among the estimated 40,000 users involved in the breach, per Billboard.

Connor Solicitors launched the suit “following unsuccessful negotiations with Ticketmaster which maintains that it is not liable for the data breach and the subsequent damages suffered by its customers,” according to a statement by managing director Kingsley Hayes.

“More than two thirds of our clients have suffered multiple fraudulent transactions since the serious data breach, with the remainder still at risk of having their money stolen or their details used for fraudulent activity in the future.”

News of the breach broke in July of last year, when Ticketmaster notified customers that malicious software came through a third party product, likely hitting customers who purchased or tried to purchase tickets between February and June of 2018. The company says the breach was limited to customers outside of North America. Reports at the time of the breach indicated that Ticketmaster was informed of a potential breach in April by digital bank Monzo, but did not act until notifying customers over two months later.

That delay in reporting could cost Ticketmaster big in fines due to new regulations regarding the disclosure of data breaches that came into effect with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. Under those regulations, companies are required to disclose breaches to the public within 72 hours. Ticketmaster claims it did not know of the breach until June. If EU regulators find that to be untrue, fines could run into the millions for the Live Nation-owned giant.

Some of the 650 claimants in the lawsuit filed this week have not yet been financially damaged by the breach, but are included in the class due to suffering “significant stress and heightened anxiety as a result with multiple attempts made to hack into their emails,” according to Hayes. “While the Ticketmaster data breach hit the headlines some time ago, the effect on victims is significant and ongoing.”

Ticketmaster declined to comment for the Billboard story.