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MGM continued to struggle a full five days after a cyber attack crippled much of the gaming company's systems including room key entries, slots and ATMs.
The attack is being blamed on Scattered Spider, described by Avertium as a "stealthy and persistent threat actor targeting telecom networks". Caesars confirmed they were hit last week but reportedly paid half of a $30 million ransom.
Scattered Spider is said to make bogus calls to businesses in an attempt to “phish” for sensitive information such as user names and passwords, and this appears to be what transpired with MGM.
Once a breach was realized, company officials ordered sensitive systems taken down, which could be what is contributing to the current chaos.
vx-underground claims the ransom gang was able to breach the casino giant through a social engineering attack.
“All ALPHV ransomware group did to compromise MGM Resorts was hop on LinkedIn, find an employee, then call the Help Desk,” vx-underground posted on X (formally known as Twitter).
“A company valued at $33,900,000,000 was defeated by a 10-minute conversation,” the post said.
Mehul Srivastava of the Financial Times explains how the gang functions:
The gang learns about individuals from social media profiles in order to impersonate them and make phone calls in English to glean passwords or digital codes needed to access networks.
Those with reservations to stay at MGM properties nationwide are unable to cancel due to call centers and websites being taken down.
The FBI has reported that it is aware of the incident and that the investigation is ongoing.
Customers, meanwhile, are left worrying whether their personal information has been compromised.
This story continues to evolve and Gambling911.com will be there to cover it.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
