More than 950,000 user accounts of the Coachella music festival allegedly are being sold on the dark web's Tochka marketplace through data trader who goes by the handle Berkut.
"Coachella complete database dump from this month," Berkut posted, according to a report by Motherboard, about information that includes usernames, hashed passwords and email addresses but no payment data.
Berkut provided a sampling of the data to Motherboard, which verified it, though the news outlet was quick to say that it couldn't confirm that the data dump included information sourced in February.
“The Coachella breach goes to show you that it isn't only Fortune 500 companies and government agencies being targeted by cybercriminals – it's any website that collects email credentials,” Tony Gauda, CEO of ThinAir, said in comments emailed to SC Media. “Consumers who reuse email credentials are especially at risk during these attacks.”
Guada called hacks of larger organizations “more lucrative,” but noted that their “more advanced” defenses” have pushed hackers to attack easier targets like the music festival website and message board. “Anyone who registered for the music festival is now a target for highly customized phishing campaigns, opening the door for subsequent attacks and additional breaches,” said Gauda. “Until organizations take steps to secure their customers information with the same level of security they apply to their physical assets, breaches such as this one will persist.”
