A former executive at Ticketmaster has been handed down a sentence following his guilty plea for hacking into the computer servers of a rival company, subsequently pilfering confidential business information.
In 2012, Stephen Mead departed from CrowdSurge, agreeing to a $52,970 separation settlement that obligated him to maintain confidentiality regarding sensitive company data, including consumer lists, passwords, advertising and marketing strategies, and financial information.
Despite this, Mead’s subsequent move to join Ticketmaster allowed him to collaborate with his new colleagues, sharing login credentials that gave them unauthorized access to CrowdSurge’s sensitive information, compromising the company’s confidential data.
According to the Department of Justice guidelines, Mead directed his colleagues to thoroughly “screen-grab” the system while emphasizing caution: “I need to stress that as this is entry into a live device, I need you all to be mindful of what you click on because it will be best not to give away that we’re snooping around.”
At the 2015 Artist Providers Summit in San Francisco, Mead made a brazen move, exploiting password-protected areas within Crowdsurge’s systems using pilfered login credentials during a live presentation. The unauthorized intrusion was projected onto a convention room’s screen, with at least 14 representatives from both Live Nation and Ticketmaster present.
Following an investigation, CrowdSurge discovered that Mead had been compromising its systems after a former Ticketmaster executive joined the company in 2015, prompting the firm to reassess its cybersecurity protocols.
In 2015, Crowdsurge merged with Songkick, a live performance ticket agency, while in 2018, Stay Nation – the parent company of Ticketmaster – agreed to acquire Songkick’s parent firm as part of a $110 million settlement resolving a lawsuit alleging that Ticketmaster had attempted to eliminate competitors in the artist pre-sale ticketing services market through various means.
Ticketmaster was forced to pay a fine after repeatedly hacking into its competitor’s computer systems.
After a stint at Stay Nation and Ticketmaster came to an abrupt end in late 2017, British national Mead found himself back in the UK, jobless. Earlier this year, he was arrested in Italy and subsequently extradited to the United States.
Following his guilty plea to price-related charges earlier this year, Mead was ordered to forfeit $67,970 and sentenced to a minimum of one year’s supervised release.
Another former Ticketmaster executive, Zeeshan Zaidi, has also pleaded guilty to charges related to the hacking of CrowdSurge, and is pending sentencing.
Since your employees often enjoy preferential access to sensitive company data and confidential information.
While confidentiality agreements are essential in protecting sensitive information, they shouldn’t solely rely on ensuring the security of your online business when former employees leave the company? To mitigate the risk of data compromise and unauthorized access, it is crucial to establish robust security protocols and promptly update passwords upon employee departure or termination.
