Ticketmaster has been 'hacked' and more than half a billion users are affected

Ticketmaster has allegedly been hacked as over 560 million customers were said to have been affected.

The American ticket sales and distribution company were reportedly subject to a data breach after a hacking group is claiming to have hacked Ticketmaster.

Taking to the BreachForums website, the ShinyHunters hacking group is claiming to have stolen 1.3TB of data from 560 million users.

They reportedly went on to announce that the data is for sale at $500,000 for a buyer who would be willing to pay that amount.

The data allegedly includes names, postal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, ticket sales and event details.

Ticketmaster has allegedly been hacked. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Since learning of the alleged incident, a statement by a spokesperson of the Department of Home Affairs of Australia told ABC it is 'working with Ticketmaster to understand the incident'.

Meanwhile, BreachForums has reportedly now shutdown and there are some suggestions of a publicity stunt.

Cybersecurity expert and director of several IT companies, Mark Lukie, thinks: "This could mean the potential risk of identity fraud and we would assume this data would be used for phishing or impersonation attacks down the track.

"Users need to be very vigilant about their email and who they're responding to and not giving out any information to people trying to trick them.

"From a commercial standpoint it's making them (hackers) lots of money and the more data these organisations have the more they become a target for these criminal organisations.

"We should all be looking for multi-factor authentication and additional resources to protect ourselves."

LADbible Group has contacted Ticketmaster for comment.

560 million customers were said to have been affected. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

This comes after the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment earlier this month, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America.

“We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” attorney general Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

“Live music should not be available only to those who can afford to pay the Ticketmaster tax,” said assistant attorney general Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

“We are here today to fight for competition so that we can reopen the doors to the live music industry for all.”

Ticketmaster said it will fight 'against these baseless allegations'.