Two individuals have been indicted for hacking the third-party data storage and analytics company Snowflake, which affected 165 companies including Ticketmaster. The attack left the personal and credit card data of more than half a billion users up for ransom on the dark web.
As previously reported, Canadian authorities arrested suspect Alexander “Connor” Mouka last month following a request from the U.S. Government. Now, John Binns, located in Turkey, has also been indicted for hacking Snowflake. While online, Moucka was known as “Juddische,” “catist,” “waif,” and “cllyels,” while Binns operated under the monikers of “irdev” and “j_irdev1337.”
According to the indictment document, Moucka and Binns accessed “billions of sensitive customer records” and extorted at least three victims over the span of about a year, from November 2023 to October 10.
Earlier this year, Live Nation confirmed that Ticketmaster suffered a data breach 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.
| READ: Ticketmaster Contradicts Reports of Hacker Leak, Access to 440K Taylor Swift Tickets |
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.
Other companies affected in the Snowflake data breach include AT&T, Santander Bank, Advanced Auto Parts, and Lending Tree’s subsidiary Quote Wizard.
