Ticketmaster, the global ticket sales giant, has yet to acknowledge an alleged cybersecurity breach that has seen hackers offer up 560 million global customer records for sale.

As was reported earlier this week by several cyber sites, hackers have allegedly stolen details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers worldwide and have now offered up the data on a popular Web hacking forum for a job lot sale of US$500,000.

According to a report published on CyberDaily, ShinyHackers are claiming to be behind the attack and have now shared sample details of the Ticketmaster data haul as proof of the deed. ShinyHunters claims to have the 1.3 terabytes of data in 16 different folders and files. In sharing a sample of the data, hackers said they have hashed credit card numbers, the last four digits of credit cards, credit card expiration dates, and fraud details, as well as customer names, addresses, emails and ticket and event information details.

The data was posted overnight on 28 May, but CyberDaily has said a second hacker on a different forum – this one Russian – has made an identical post. It is unknown if the second hacker has any links to ShinyHunters.

In an exclusive communication with Hackread.com, ShinyHunters revealed they had attempted to contact Ticketmaster regarding the breach but have yet to receive a response.

Mi3 has reached out to Ticketmaster parent company, Live Nation, for comment.

A spokesperson from Australia's Department of Home Affairs confirmed to Mi3 reports in the ABC that it has reached out to Ticketmaster to investigate the incident further.

"The Australian Government is aware of a cyber incident impacting Ticketmaster," the spokesperson stated. "The National Office of Cyber Security is engaging with Ticketmaster to understand the incident."

The department said specific enquiries relating to this incident should be directed to Ticketmaster.

Monash University Professor Nigel Phair, Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity, Faculty of Information Technology, questioned why Ticketmaster has not as yet acknowledged a cybersecurity data breach that has reportedly seen the details of 560 million of its customers worldwide stolen by a well-known hacking group and put up for sale.

“Significant data breaches are becoming all too common. The current legislative approach is clearly not working, as organisations are still not putting sufficient effort into cyber risk management," Phair said. “There are over 5 million Australian and New Zealand Ticketmaster account holders, they will be concerned about any loss of personal information, including names, addresses, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. and where this may end up on the Dark Web.

“It is troubling that Ticketmaster has not made any public statements regarding this data breach. Organisations need to be more proactive in their communications and inform the public what has happened and how they are remediating the situation."

Phair stressed how important it's become for consumers to remain hyper-vigilant in the online world and be on the lookout for unusual emails, SMS or phone calls. He also advised consumers to be on the lookout for any suspicious credit card transactions.