Portsmouth Guildhall website crashed by 'malicious' cyber attack as Mickey Flanagan tickets go on sale
PORTSMOUTH Guildhall’s website crashed this morning after it was ‘maliciously targeted’ in a cyber attack.
The crash happened as tickets went on sale at 10am on Friday for a pair of ‘work in progress’ shows by superstar comic Micky Flanagan, leaving many fans fuming.
The popular comic’s shows, due to take place on November 6 and 7, were only announced on Wednesday and have already sold out.
Numerous comments were posted on social media by people blaming the venue after they were unable to buy tickets, but in a statement released this afternoon, the venue said: ‘This morning it would appear that our website was maliciously targeted to redirect unprecedented amounts of traffic towards it causing it to crash.
‘We have been working with our web and IT providers to resolve the issue and get back online as quickly as possible.
‘This is now fixed but if you continue to experience any problems you can always buy tickets for all available events at: tickets.portsmouthguildhall.org.uk/webshop.
‘We apologise if you were unsuccessful in securing tickets for Micky Flanagan. As is often the case, a limited pre-sale was run yesterday (Thursday).
‘We do not control how many tickets are allocated this way or who has access to a pre-sale, other than our Guildhall Members.
‘A substantial amount of tickets were still available for general on sale this morning which went very quickly through the alternative web link we posted and to those queuing at the Guildhall.
‘Micky Flanagan fans are advised that when the "Work in Progress” shows become a finished show the best way to hear about it is to join Micky’s own mailing list at mickyflanagan.com.’