Add Category
Ticketek Australia says 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 on Friday, the company said the information in question was stored in a cloud-based platform hosted by a "reputable, global third-party supplier".
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".
"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 company said.
"We have already commenced notifying those customers who may have been impacted.
"We 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 Department of Home Affairs confirmed it was working with Ticketmaster, a rival ticketing agency owned by US company Live Nation, 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.
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.
She said the number of recent breaches demonstrated the importance of companies quickly alerting customers affected by data breaches, and offering them support.
"I'd ask Australians to be especially vigilant and on the lookout for scams during a time like this … including phishing emails," she said.
"Be on the lookout for suspicious emails and contact cyber.gov.au for support and to report incidents.
"Don't click on any links in emails you aren't absolutely sure about, and if you receive an uncharacteristic email or text, be extra cautious in dealing with it."