Ajax hands out new mobile tickets for next matches following data breach


Soccer fans with one or multiple tickets for one of the season’s final three home matches will receive new mobile tickets.

According to the Dutch soccer club, this is a precautionary measure taken following a recent data breach.

Last week, Ajax reported that a hacker gained unauthorized access to the club’s IT systems, exposing the personal information of over 300,000 fans.

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According to the club, only the email addresses of a few hundred people were viewed, along with sensitive and personal information belonging to fewer than 20 people with a stadium ban.

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According to Dutch news outlet RTL Nieuws, hackers were able to steal more than 42,000 season tickets. The vulnerability in Ajax’s IT systems also allowed the attackers to see the names of 538 supporters with a stadium ban, with the option to change their personal details or remove their stadium ban.

Further investigation of the incident has revealed that the names, email addresses, row and seat numbers, and barcodes of a group of approximately 400 people who hold tickets for the Ajax vs FC Twente, Ajax Women vs Feyenoord Women, and Ajax vs PSV matches were accessed.

The fans involved have been personally notified by Ajax.

In an update that was released on Monday, Ajax announced that, as a precautionary measure, everyone holding one or more tickets for one of the last three home games of this season will receive new mobile tickets.

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Ajax team celebrates victory. Wart Brinkerhof/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi/Getty.

A few days after disclosing the data breach, it became clear this wasn’t the first data breach Ajax has dealt with. In 2017, Ajax also faced a similar breach, but tried to hide the incident from the public.

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Abdoul Rasnab, the ethical hacker who discovered the vulnerability, said he was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement in an attempt to silence him.

“I was sent into a small room. No normal conversation, no appreciation. Instead: transgressive behavior, intimidation, and racist remarks that I will never forget. I was young. I felt pressured. I signed, not because it felt right, but because I thought I had no choice,” he said in a recent interview.

Ajax has pressed charges against the ethical hacker for accessing Ajax’s IT systems without permission.

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