25 January 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Ticketing Company AXS is behind country superstar Zach Bryan’s most recent tour. The singer plans on making a stop in Wichita later this summer.
One local tech expert says he anticipates companies like AXS will continue to strengthen their safeguards as the Senate probe into Ticketmaster’s parent company continues.
“They had the wrong infrastructure and safeguards in place to prevent that cyber attack,” Bill Ramsey, CEO of Soteria Technology Solutions, said.
Ramsey specializes in creating software that targets bots. He says additional safeguards used by ticket sale companies like AXS, including a $1 refundable deposit fans must pay to register in advance (with no guarantee they’ll get a ticket), can slow bots down.
“Requiring everybody to do…dollar deposits, they’re going to be looking at credit card numbers, and that can only be allowed for ‘x’ number of tickets,” Ramsey said.
Another safeguard includes prohibiting ticket sales, although Ramsey says logistically, that’s much more tricky.
“I’m not sure how they’re going to track that, honestly, unless they’re all purely digital…there’s some technology out there that they can make that happen,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey points out that while these safeguards are important, no safeguard is ever foolproof.
“Phone number, address, number of credit cards—I mean it’s, you can put ten different checks in to say ‘Hey, is this really a person and not a bot?,’” Ramsey said.
Ramsey anticipates customers will be required to give even more personal info to ticket sale companies as the fight against bots and scalpers continues.
“Systems that are out there are definitely going to have to start becoming much more restrictive and how those tickets are sold to, to please the artist, if nothing else,” Ramsey said. “It’s a PR nightmare for the artist just as much as anybody.”
AXS confirms with KSN News 3 that fans will have until Jan. 29 at 9 p.m. CST to register for a chance to buy a ticket to the Zach Bryan concert. All registered fans will then be notified on Feb. 16 if they’ve been selected to buy a ticket.