MGM Resorts

History

2023: In Las Vegas and several U.S. states, hackers disabled slot machines

On September 12, 2023, the American casino operator MGM Resorts International reported a large-scale cyber attack on its information infrastructure, as a result of which slot machines throughout the United States were disabled.

It is said that failures in the operation of IT systems began to be observed on September 10, 2023. Reservation services and playgrounds in Las Vegas and some states including Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and Ohio were subsequently shut down. In addition, as of September 13, 2023, the main site of MGM Resorts International remains inoperable: when you try to visit it, a notification is displayed that the resource is unavailable.

In Las Vegas and several US states, hackers disabled slot machines

Many customers complain that they cannot make transactions using bank cards, win slot machines and use online services. Some users were faced with the inability to get into their hotel rooms using electronic keys.

MGM Resorts International operates tens of thousands of hotel rooms in Las Vegas at its flagship MGM Grand Hotel, as well as the Bellagio, Aria, New York-New York and Mandalay Bay hotels. The company also has resorts in China and Macau. The official notice says that due to the cyber attack, MGM Resorts International was forced to disable "certain systems" in order to protect data. Nothing is reported about the nature of the hacker invasion and possible leaks of personal information of customers. The FBI said experts continue to investigate the incident. At the same time, it is not specified whether the attack is related to the use of a ransomware program. Representatives of the affected company say that the operability of the IT infrastructure is gradually restored, and employees of the check-in desks are ready to help customers if necessary.^[1]

2020: 10.6 million customer data released to the public

In mid-February 2020, the personal data of more than 10.6 million customers who stayed at MGM Resorts hotels were published on a hacker forum. Among other things, the personal and contact details of celebrities, technical directors, journalists, government officials and employees of some of the world's largest technology companies were in the public domain.

A spokesman for MGM said that data that fell into the public domain was stolen by hackers in 2019 in a cyber attack.

Data from more than 10.6 million customers who stayed at MGM Resorts hotels were published on a hacker forum

Last summer, we discovered unauthorized access to a cloud server that contained information related to some MGM Resorts guests, a company spokesman said. - We are sure that during the cyber attack, payment card data or passwords of our customers were not stolen, but some personal data was in the hands of hackers.

The hotel chain said it promptly notified all affected guests under current state law. Some users wrote on social networks that they received a notification in August 2019. In addition, MGM Resorts hired two forensic teams to conduct an internal investigation on the server.

MGM Resorts takes the data protection of our customers extremely seriously, so we have improved the security of our network to prevent similar incidents in the future, a spokesman said.

However, the data breach could have serious consequences for many of the hotel's high-profile customers working for big tech companies and governments around the world. They are now at higher risk of cyber attacks, receiving phishing emails and SIM spoofing. MGM Resorts reported that most of the shooting data, however, some numbers are still valid.^[2]

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