Articles by author: Brock University

• Brock experts weigh in on Ticketmaster’s ‘mishandling’ of customer data

  Thursday, July 11, 2024 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: July 11, 2024 – R0083

  Brock University experts are calling for stronger consumer protections after millions of Ticketmaster customers were alerted that their personal data may have been compromised in a security breach.

  In an email sent to customers this week, the ticket seller says it detected unauthorized activity on an isolated cloud database hosted by a third-party data services provider. Anyone who purchased tickets using the platform between April 2 and May 18 of this year may have been impacted.

  The company determined that personal information including customers’ names, basic contact information and payment card information, such as encrypted credit or debit card numbers and expiry dates may have been affected.

  Not only is this not the first time a security breach has occurred on the platform, but Associate Professor of Information Systems Francine Vachon says the lag time between the company getting wind of this breach and alerting customers was extremely problematic.

  “The long delay means that criminals had time to use this data and because consumers didn’t know their data was compromised, they were prevented from taking active measures to protect themselves,” she says.

  She adds that at least one hacker group even bragged about selling the personal information of Ticketmaster’s customers on the dark web, to the tune of $500,000.

  Aaron Mauro, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Digital Humanities at Brock, says the incident further highlights the need for stricter regulation for companies entrusted with sensitive personal and financial information.

  “We should be actively asking our politicians to create laws that demand accountability, transparency and consequences for monopolistic corporations that mishandle our private, financial information,” he says.

  Mauro also emphasizes the need to take into account the complexity of ecommerce platforms such as Ticketmaster, which have many software and service providers embedded within their systems.

  While Ticketmaster’s own systems may be secure, he says, their service providers may be compromised.

  “Assigning fault may be plausibly deflected by companies like Ticketmaster,” says Mauro, “but the harms to consumers remain the same without accurate and early reporting of security incidents.”

  Vachon says harsher penalties may prevent incidents like this from happening so often.

  “From the Canadian legal perspective, until recently, our laws ‘had no teeth,’” she says.  “Ticketmaster, perhaps, felt no urgent need to inform Canadians of the breach.”

  Vachon says the maximum fine for non-compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada — including not sending a data breach notification — is $100,000. Quebec has the stiffest penalties in the country, she adds, fining up to $10 million for an infraction.

  Ticketmaster has also been embroiled in other contentious incidents that have frustrated both consumers and artists alike, such as flubbing major ticketing releases and criticisms surrounding absorbent ticket prices and sky-high service fees.

  Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment were recently sued by the U.S. Department of Justice following allegations that their monopoly over live events has vastly driven up ticket prices, and there are numerous class-action lawsuits in provinces across Canada that accuse it of allegedly profiting from third-party ticket reselling.

  The stakes are even higher considering Ticketmaster is essentially the only game in town when it comes to ticket sales.

  “Ticketmaster has a near monopoly on ticket sales and artificially inflates prices by allowing scalpers to resell tickets, which further inflates ticket prices sold legitimately,” Mauro says.

  Mauro and Vachon suggest that anyone concerned that their data may have been compromised should consider doing the following:

  • Contact your bank if you believe your credit card has been stored on Ticketmaster systems.
  • Anyone with a Ticketmaster account should change their password or delete their account.
  • Do not use the same password for different online accounts.
  • Use a password manager for stronger passwords and greater ease of use.
  • Use Multi-Factor Authentication apps, which protect your accounts if your password is compromised.
  • Consider using a service such as Have I Been Pwned? to determine if your email is being publicly traded by criminals online. If you discover your information is associated with a compromise, take the previous two steps to secure those accounts.
  • Those who rarely apply for credit can opt to have a credit watch placed on their credit bureau file.

  Brock University Associate Professor of Information Systems Francine Vachon and Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Digital Humanities Aaron Mauro are available for media interviews on this topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University sackles@brocku.ca or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases

• Strike may help shape LCBO’s future, says Brock expert

  Friday, July 05, 2024 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: July 5, 2024 – R0082

  Nine thousand unionized Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) employees walked off the job on Friday, closing the doors to thousands of stores across the province and launching the first-ever strike in the retailer’s history.

  Stores are expected to be closed for at least 14 days.

  Brock University Professor of Health Sciences Dan Malleck says although the strike itself is historic in nature, the fact that alcohol is more widely available today than in the past means store closures won’t be as “big a deal as they would have been 30 years ago, when the LCBO was the main point of access.”

  After months of bargaining, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the LCBO failed to come to an agreement on wage increases, a demand for more full-time jobs and a desire to update language in the collective agreement that would protect existing jobs as well as the future of the LCBO itself.

  “Private retailers are not bound to have unions, they aren’t bound to pay their staff a living wage, so their concerns about jobs are very valid,” Malleck says.

  The LCBO was formed post-prohibition in 1927, under the guiding principle of what is known as disinterested management, he says. It served as a balancing force between the public’s desire to have access to alcohol and temperance concerns about the potential harms of alcohol.  Under disinterested management, the priority was controlling access, rather than profit.

  “Fundamental to the idea of the LCBO is the ‘C’ — control — and the LCBO’s union has always presented itself as the frontline controlling access to this product that could be considered problematic,” Malleck says. “The rhetoric coming out of the union now has been more about the loss of profit to the people as opposed to control, however, which is an interesting framing because up until now the LCBO and its union have emphasized their expertise in managing access to alcohol.”

  For decades, the LCBO continued to operate under this control-focused model, with few calls for widespread change.

  “The LCBO has been a convenient administrator of alcohol and a very appealing revenue generator and there hasn’t been a huge public outcry about having it any other way,” Malleck says of the retailer’s role in the province’s liquor sales.

  The strike times with the Ford government’s recent move to allow convenience stores and all grocery stores to sell beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails ahead of schedule, however.

  The timing really helped the union’s position, Malleck says, “as it could feel to some people that the roll out of expanded sales is haphazard, so the union can tap into those worries about it going too fast.”

  Malleck also says the further proliferation of alcohol sales will inevitably impact the scope of the LCBO’s foothold in the market to some degree, potentially leading to store closures and lost revenue because of increased competition.

  Another sticking point with OPSEU was the inclusion of ready-to-drink spirits in the plan for expanded retail sales.

  “It’s usually beer, wine, cider in private sales and spirits still controlled by the province so to do these premixed drinks is sort of breaking that model,” he says. “It does open up the door to spirit sales in stores, but I think that it would be a really big deal in Ontario to see that happen.”

  When it comes to the safety and health impacts of having broader access to alcohol across Ontario, however, he says concerns may be overblown.

  “The idea of booze being sold by for-profit companies can seem like we’re about to lose control — I’m not sure if that’s the case — but it’s something that plays on the minds of people and we see it every time an aspect of booze sales is about to be liberalized,” he said. “With alcohol regulation there’s always people that think that any more liberalization is going to cause complete social chaos, and it’s not.”

  Brock University Professor of Health Sciences Dan Malleck is available for media interviews on this topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University sackles@brocku.ca or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases