- Organizers confirm Venice participants affected by a data violation
- Names and contact information were included in the leaked data
- Entertainment is a growing focus of attack
The Venice Film Festival has confirmed that it has recently suffered a data violation, with hackers assumed to have access to the personal information from the participants, including journalist.
Organizers confirmed that the attack took place on July 7, 2025 with journalists from The Hollywood reporter Confirmation that they had received letters about violation of breach of letters that revealed the incident.
Affected data may include names, e -mail addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses and even tax codes for those eligible for VAT refund, according to the report.
Participants in the Venice Film Festival affected by violation of data
During the violation, unauthorized persons gained access to and copied documents stored on the festival’s servers, although the IT team “immediately intervened, isolated the affected systems and secured them.”
“The competent authorities were immediately informed and restoration operations were initiated,” added Venice’s IT workers.
Although the violation is believed to have a limited influence – not involving organizational data, payments, bookings or ticketing – the extent of the data collected could still jeopardize individuals.
Under Article 33 of the EU GDPR, controllers must notify the supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of a violation – delayed disclosure may draw legislative control and potential fines. It is unclear when the authorities became aware of the incident, but letters appear to have begun to arrive with those affected on August 5 or 6.
Venice is not alone in being affected by cyber criminal activity – during the CANNES 2022 Bots overwhelmed its new online ticket portal.
Germany’s KonBriefing research explains that the entertainment sector can be a particularly attractive environment for attackers seeking to access personal information with high value.
Participants in Venice should consider changing passwords and enabling multi-factor approval (MFA) to protect accounts, but they should also be aware of potential phishing attempts from Venice-related activities, including La Biennale.
