Pandemonium Rocks exposes itself to substantial data breach

Negligence from the Pandemonium Rocks music festival in Australia allowed for a considerable data breach that has exposed sensitive information of hundreds of ticket-holders.

Fans learned that their data, including information like bank details, email addresses, and phone numbers, had been accidentally leaked just hours before the festival’s opening in Melbourne last Saturday.

Customers had provided their information while applying for partial refunds, after seven of the 13 scheduled acts dropped out.

“On Fri, April 19 at 5:47pm Pandemonium sent a partial refund request form to ticket holders,” read a statement from the festival’s organisers.

“Unfortunately, the Admin tab on that form was left on which meant that if a person specifically selected the Results tab, information from people who had already filled in the form became visible.

“We were alerted about this error at 7:13pm by a media outlet and by 7:20pm the Admin tab had been switched off. No further information could be accessed.

“All people within that timeframe who filled the form will be contacted by Pandemonium directly asap to notify them that their data was made public during that window and to advise their banks to update their information.

“We are sincerely sorry for the angst this has caused.”

The extent of the data breach has not been confirmed by organisers.

Earlier this month, it was announced that six acts had been scrapped from the festival, including international headliners Placebo and Deep Purple as well as American band Dead Kennedys.

The location of several dates have also been changed which has contributed to the reduction of price for general admission tickets. The cost was cut from A$285 (£150/$185/€175) to A$190 while VIP tickets have been reduced from A$830 to A$650.

Organisers clarified that full refunds were not available. Instead, customers could either receive one complimentary general admission ticket for each full price ticket purchased, a partial refund of A$70, or a hoodie valued at A$100.