Ticketfly, Major Venues Offline Hours After Hack, Ransom Demand [UPDATE 3]

[UPDATE 3] Ticketfly and the sites of many of the major venues and promoters it services are offline as the ticketing company struggles with a major "cyber incident."  Still offline as of 5PM ET Thursday, the site, which is owned by Eventbrite, went dark before 6AM ET Thursday with the tweet: "To protect our clients and fans, and to secure the website and related data, we have temporarily taken all Ticketfly systems offline."

In addition to ticketing, Ticketfly provides web site services to many of its clients. As Thursday morning, the entire sites of some major promoters and venues were offline. The sites of both IMP Promotions, a major DC area promoter, and its new flagship venue The Anthem were offline displaying only "502 Bad Gateway" message, as was the site of major Chicago promoter Jam Productions. Many other promoters and venues were unable to sell tickets.

UPDATE 3: As of 5PM ET Thursday, almost 12 hours after the attack,  this message is the front page of most Ticketfly partner sites.

Eventbrite clients appeared unaffected by the hack.

The Hackers 

Code left on the Ticketfly site points to the hacker group IsHaKdZ, who appears to be demanding a ransom  Along with a yandex.com email address, the hackers left this message: 

Ticketfly HacKeD By IsHaKdZ. Your Security Down im Not Sorry. Next time I will publish database "backstage."

Ticketfly was founded in 2008 in San Francisco. Im 2013 it announced an acquisition by Pandora in a $335 million cash and stock deal. On June 9, 2017, Pandora sold Ticketfly to its largest competitor, Eventbrite for $200 million. Ticketfly  clients include top 1200  venues and promoters, including  the Bowery Ballroom, Brooklyn Bowl, Central Park SummerStage, Merriweather Post Pavilion and Pitchfork Music Festival.

Check back for regular updates…