MGM Resorts International has confirmed that it has suffered a cybersecurity breach and is working with the FBI to resolve the issue. The company’s website went down yesterday, prompting users to take to social media to speculate the casino giant had been hacked.
MGM released a statement Monday evening to confirm the news:
MGM’s ATMs, slot machines, and even elevators are down, and an insider has claimed the hackers are asking for a large ransom to return services to normal. According to sources quoted by Las Vegas Locally, Caesars Entertainment fell victim to a similar hack recently. Caesars supposedly ended up paying out a $30m ransom in that case.
Gaming companies are becoming regular victims of cybersecurity attacks. On Monday, the FBI identified the North Korean cyber organization Lazarus Group as the culprit of a hack on crypto casino Stake. The gaming firm lost $41m last week in the exploit.
In March, UK cyber expert David Rees, Executive Director at Howden Insurance Brokers, told Cyber Security Summit attendees that Russia was behind many hacks of US casinos. He claimed that the nation needed the funds to bankroll its war effort in Ukraine.