Customers Sue Madison Square Garden Over Hacking of 26 Million Records

New York Times (06/24/26) Caron, Christina In the days prior to the New York Knicks winning the NBA finals, a hacking group worked to steal customer data from Madison Square Garden, according to three class-action lawsuits filed against the companies that own the arena and sports teams. The ShinyHunters hacking group claimed responsibility for the attack and announced on June 12 that more than 26 million records would be leaked if it did not receive a ransom from the Garden. Four days later, ShinyHunters sent a new message: "When you pay us, your data is deleted and you move on with your life. When you don't pay us, you get posted here." That same day, June 16, the hackers published the records after announcing that Madison Square Garden had "failed to reach an agreement with us," the lawsuits charge. The leaked data included internal emails, celebrity contacts, and a bevy of corporate information. An independent analysis by DataBreach found that almost 9.8 million emails were leaked in the Madison Square Garden attack, in addition to more than 9,500 dates of birth and almost five million street addresses. Full names and phone numbers of customers were also stolen. Read the full story from the  New York Times .