Ticketek Australia advise that customer accounts may have been accessed in cyber security breach

Ticketek Australia has advised that the names of some of its customers, as well as their dates of birth and email addresses, may have been accessed in a data breach.

In a statement released today, the TEG owned company said the information had been stored in a cloud-based platform hosted by a "reputable, global third-party supplier".

Advising that it is working with the National Office of Cyber Security, the company said it had secure encryption methods in place for customer passwords, and no customer accounts or payment details had been compromised in the "cyber incident".

The statement advised “Ticketek has secure encryption methods in place for all passwords and no Ticketek customer account has been compromised. Additionally, Ticketek utilises secure encryption methods for online payments and uses a separate system to process online payments, which has not been impacted. Ticketek does not hold identity documents for its customers.

“Since our third party supplier brought this to our attention, over the past few days we have worked diligently to put every resource into completing an investigation so that we can communicate with customers who may have been impacted, and other stakeholders, as quickly as possible.

“The available evidence at this time indicates that, from a privacy perspective, customer names, dates of birth and email addresses may have been impacted.”

The statement went on to “apologise for any concern that this news may cause - we will provide further updates as more information becomes available."

News of the data breach comes days after the Federal Department of Home Affairs confirmed it was working with Ticketmaster to investigate claims of stolen customer information.

There is no evidence the two potential incidents are related.

Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator, Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, said on Friday evening that Ticketek had advised her of the potential breach, and the Australian Signals Directorate and Australian Federal Police were also aware of the incident.

Federal Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said that the breach potentially affected many Australians, based on the information she had so far, but reiterated that the data was likely limited to names, dates of birth and email addresses.

Minister O'Neil stated "I'd ask Australians to be especially vigilant and on the lookout for scams during a time like this … including phishing emails.”

In February, prior to Taylor Swift's concers in Melbourne and Sydney, Ticketek advised that customers had their accounts hacked and their tickets listed and sold on resale site.

In a statement acknowledging the issue, a Ticketek spokesperson said it was “aware of (unauthorised) access to individual accounts” via “information that has been obtained from other sources”.

Click here to read today's Ticketek Australia statement.

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