How hackers may make it difficult for Taylor Swift fans to attend Eras Tour concerts

Hackers have reportedly leaked the ticket details of one of Taylor Swift's concerts. According to a report by Bleeping Computers, event ticketing company Ticketmaster has claimed that it's facing a potential security breach.
Cyberattackers associated with the group Sp1d3rHunters (formerly Sp1d3r) have reportedly claimed to have leaked barcode data for 166,000 tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.The report claims that the barcode data is for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Miami, New Orleans and Indianapolis. The ongoing tour started last year and will continue till December 2024.
Ticketmaster has not yet commented on the situation, and the authenticity of the leaked data remains unverified. If it turns out to be true, it may leave a significant number of fans unable to attend the concerts.

The hackers have allegedly demanded a ransom of $2 million from the company to prevent them from leaking data for other events.
This extortion demand, which was first shared by threat intel service HackManac, reads:
"Pay us $2 million or we leak all 680 million of your user's information and 30 million more event barcodes including more Taylor Swift events, P!nk, Sting, Sporting events F1 Formula Racing, MLB, NFL and thousands more events.”
Sp1d3rHunters is known for extorting companies after stealing data from Snowflake accounts.
The hackers have also claimed that the leaked data isn't just ticket barcodes but also includes information to create scannable barcodes (like stripes and numbers) along with details like seat location and ticket price.
The group even provided instructions on turning this data into functioning barcodes. This leak seems connected to a larger Ticketmaster data breach in May, as some details like hashed credit card info match the previous leak.

In a statement to Bleeping Computer, Ticketmaster said that unique barcodes are updated every few seconds, so the stolen tickets cannot be used.
The company said: "Ticketmaster's SafeTix technology protects tickets by automatically refreshing a new and unique barcode every few seconds so it cannot be stolen or copied. This is just one of many fraud protections we implement to keep tickets safe and secure."