“Social engineering will become more prevalent because it is the soft underbelly for lots of organizations,” Callow said. He said casino employees should be wary of the social engineering tactics practiced by cybercriminals.

I would fully expect other cybercriminals to be looking at Vegas casinos to see whether there are any exploitable weaknesses in that system.” “If an organization has the means to pay, it’s a target. “All sorts of organizations are attacked all the time,” he said. “In the case of Caesars, it could possibly be less extensive and they were able to recover more quickly.”īecause of the publicity of the two attacks, Callow believes other casino companies should be on their guard. “In the case of MGM, it was obviously a fairly significant event, and it could take quite some time to recover from that regardless of whether or not they paid the ransom,” Callow said in an interview.

The company says its systems have since been restored. 10 took down computer systems and crippled operations ranging from the MGM app enabling guests to enter their hotel rooms to slot machine payouts and company email. It’s been widely reported that Caesars Entertainment Inc., which suffered a cyberattack in August, paid a multimillion-dollar ransom to attackers but suffered far less damage to its systems than MGM. It’s unclear whether MGM paid any ransom. Norsk Hydro, which didn’t pay attackers a ransom, estimated its losses at $71 million. The company is expected to announce financial results later this month or in early November. Analysts believe most of the financial damage would occur in the third quarter. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday, MGM estimated its losses at $100 million, affecting third- and fourth-quarter earnings. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Las Vegas casino company should be prepared for the possibility of a cyberattack in light of high-profile hacks that occurred in August and September, a software expert told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday.īrett Callow, a threat analyst for the anti-malware software company Emsisoft, said he believes the financial loss suffered by MGM Resorts International over nine days in September was the costliest ransomware attack in history, surpassing a June 2022 attack against Norwegian aluminum manufacturer Norsk Hydro. From left, the New York-New York, Excalibur and MGM Grand hotel-casinos are seen on Thursday, Sept.

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