Ticketmaster boss who hacked into a competitor's IT system sentenced to one year's probation

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The former Ticketmaster boss who hacked into his former employees' systems and caused their collapse has been convicted.

Stephen Mead worked for CrowdSurge as Senior Vice President of Global Operations and General Manager of North America before moving to Ticketmaster. During his time there, Mead allegedly accessed CrowdSurge's system at least 25 times between August 2013 and December 2015 using IP addresses registered with Ticketmaster.

This wasn't just a case of one individual. According to court documents, Ticketmaster executives had asked Mead to share “competitive information” about CrowdSurge.

Mead then shared confidential CrowdSurge spreadsheets, gave access to the company's password-protected information, and outlined how to “bring CrowdSurge to its knees.” Mead also revealed real-time ticket sales data and the identities of the artists the company worked with.

His co-conspirator and boss, former Ticketmaster executive Zeeshan Zaidi, pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and wire fraud.

Mead pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in June. He was fined $67,970 (£52,000) and sentenced to one year's probation.

Many would say he got off lightly, considering that during the trial the Department of Justice stated that his actions contributed to the downfall of CrowdSurge.

This couldn't come at a worse time for Ticketmaster, whose business practices are currently under scrutiny following the Oasis ticket debacle. The industry practice of “dynamic” or “surge” pricing, where ticket prices for shows in high demand can suddenly increase, was recently brought to light.

The Government has confirmed that it will look into the practice in its upcoming review of the secondary ticket market, and artists are under increasing pressure to distance themselves from the practice – in the last week both David Gilmour and Robert Smith of The Cure have spoken out against it.

Meanwhile, consumer brand Which? last week called on Ticketmaster to refund Oasis fans affected by dynamic pricing. Which? stated that Ticketmaster's “lack of transparency” regarding dynamic pricing “may have breached consumer protection regulations against unfair trading (CPRs) as many fans were only informed of the increases after they had already tried to add cheaper tickets to their basket”.