Breach, Data Security

Event ticketing company hacked, at least tens of thousands affected

After a server attack, tens of thousands of customers, who used the services of San Franciso-based online ticketing company Vendini, had their financial and other sensitive information exposed.

How many victims? The exact number is currently unknown but, according to reports, “tens of thousands” were impacted, including 22,900 individuals in Maine.

What type of personal information? Credit card numbers and expiration dates, names, phone numbers and physical and email addresses.

What happened? On March 29, intruders raided a server of Vendini, which provides box-office and online ticketing services for events throughout the United States and Canada. The hackers then were able to access a database containing customers' personal information.

What was the response? Vendini hired a forensic firm to investigate the incident. The company planned to send notification letters to victims.

Details: Vendini also notified Maine's attorney general about the breach, which it detected on April 25. Some states, including Maine, have laws that require breaches be reported to a central repository. On Tuesday, President and CEO Mark Tacchi posted a statement about the incident on Vendini's blog.

According to the statement, credit card security access codes, such as PIN numbers and card verification value (CVV and CVV2) numbers, were not accessed since Vendini does not collect that information.

Source: www.wcsh6.com, WCSH Channel 6, Data breach may affect 23,000 Mainers who bought tickets online,” May 22, 2013.

[An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Vendini was based in Boston. Vendini is headquartered in San Francisco and has corporate offices in Boston.]

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