Man Allegedly Behind Ticketmaster Hack Arrested in Canada

A man suspected of carrying out attacks on dozens of companies using Snowflake’s cloud storage system has been arrested in Canada, Bloomberg reports. Among the 165 companies affected during the attack is Ticketmaster, which left the personal and credit card data of more than half a billion users up for ransom on the dark web earlier this year.

According to Canada Department of Justice spokesperson Ian McLeod, authorities arrested suspect Alexander “Connor” Moucka on October 30 following a request from the U.S. government. McLeod said that Moucka appeared in court that day and his case was adjourned to Tuesday, November 5. No further information regarding the case has been revealed at this time.

| READ: Hackers Leak 30K Ticketmaster Barcodes, Share Tutorial for Counterfeit Tickets | 

Live Nation and Ticketmaster confirmed a massive data breach this past May, where 560 million customers were affected across the globe. The news followed reports that the “hacker” group ShinyHunters cracked the Ticketmaster system and accessed some 1.3 terabytes of data, which included names, addresses, credit card numbers, phone numbers, and payment details.

Additionally, ShinyHunters reportedly claimed to have access to around $22 billion worth of tickets and a total of 193 million barcodes, including 440,000 Taylor Swift tickets. The group also claimed it demanded Ticketmaster/Live Nation a ransom of $8 million — an increase from their previous ask of $1 million, or the data would be sold to the highest bidder.

Ticketmaster responded, rejecting those claims. In a statement to Hackread.com, the site that first reported the hacker leak, Ticketmaster said that their SafeTix technology prevents theft, as it is frequently refreshing the barcode. Additionally, the ticketing giant discredited claims of a ransom offer.

| READ: Ticketmaster Contradicts Reports of Hacker Leak, Access to 440K Taylor Swift Tickets | 

“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 the publication. “This is just one of many fraud protections we implement to keep tickets safe and unassailable. Some outlets are inaccurately reporting about a ransom offer. We were never engaged for a ransom and did not offer them money.”

Other companies affected in the Snowflake data breach include AT&T, Santander Bank, Advanced Auto Parts, and Lending Tree’s subsidiary Quote Wizard.