Blow to the heart of Las Vegas: casinos lose millions due to cyber attack

History of a cyber attack

They say that the house always wins, but, in this case, the casinos were the ones who lost. And not only money but also prestige and security because of a cyber attack that caused the collapse of the most important casinos in the world.

'Scattered Spider'

As reported by CNN, a group of hackers called 'Scattered Spider' managed to enter the computer systems of legendary casinos such as Caesar's Palace and Harrah's, at the beginning of September 2023.

Photo: Pexels - Tima Miroshnichenko

Confidential customer data

In both cases, the assailants obtained information regarding the social security information and the driving licenses of many clients associated with the casinos' loyalty programs.

Also Bellagio and MGM

The cyberattack did not stop there because, once inside, they decided to unleash chaos in the casinos above and two other Las Vegas icons, such as the Bellagio and the MGM Excalibur.

Photo: Pexels - Solvej Nielsen

Blocked slots

In addition, the hackers blocked the slot machines and froze the ATMs. Furthermore, elevators and revolving access doors also stopped working.

Photo: Freepik

No access to rooms

Many clients also encountered the significant problem of being unable to enter their rooms with electronic access cards or buy food or drinks from vending machines.

Photo: Pexels - Midtrack Producer

A hard problem to solve

What's more, the problem with room access cards dragged on for more than a week.

Photo: Pexels - Pixabay

What did the assailants want?

The question everyone was asking was simple: what did the hackers want? Were they looking for something specific or simply agents of chaos like the Joker?

Photo: Pexels - Cottonbro Studio

30 million dollars

As reported by CNN, 'Caesars' Entertainment' was pressured to pay an amount of $30 million so that the information extracted in the attack would not see the light of day.

Photo: Flickr

15 big ones paid out

The media outlet indicated that, in the end, the company only had to pay half of that amount, that is, 15 million dollars.

Photo: Pexels - Tima Miroshnichenko

Possible illegal payment

The problem that 'Caesar's Entertainment' may encounter now is that the hackers ask for new ransoms. The payment may become illegal if made to an organisation under sanctions in the United States.

Pay to avoid losing more

Now, the company was clear that they could not put up with the chaotic situation. Particularly since casinos have valuable personal data of millions of customers and they move huge amounts of money.

Photo: Pexels - Antonio Janeski

Millionaire losses

How much? According to an analyst in the 'Las Vegas Review-Journal', MGM Resorts International likely lost between $4.2 and $8.4 million in daily revenue since the cyberattack. To this we must add an additional million dollars in cash flow per day.

Photo: Flickr

An economic and image drain

According to David Katz, the aforementioned analyst, the economic damage to the casinos implied losses of 10 to 20% of income and cash flows, on the days affected by the cyberattack.

Photo: Pexels - Pixabay

Money making machines

And, according to Jefferies analysts, in statements to the media, MGM generates 42 million a day in income and 8 million in house flow.

Photo: Flickr

This didn't stay in Las Vegas

This time, what happens in Las Vegas has not stayed in Las Vegas. The information of thousands of clients lives on in the hackers' servers until who knows when.

Photo: Pexels - Paul Ijsendoorn

Credit consequences

And yes, the FBI is investigating the facts in collaboration with MGM Resorts. Still, until they find something significant, Moody's has already warned of the negative credit consequences that this incident will have on MGM, a company valued at $14 billion.

Photo: Pexels - Kaysha