MGM Resorts and Cyber Attacks are tightly coupled

MGM Resorts has been forced to shut down some casino and hotel systems following what the company described as a “cybersecurity issue.”

The incident began on Sunday and affected systems, including websites, online reservations, ATMs, and credit card machines. The company owns hotels, casinos, and resorts in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, as well as Las Vegas.

The outages included slot machines, and some guests reported that their room keys were not working.

In a statement, MGM Resorts described the problem as a cybersecurity issue affecting some of the company’s systems. The company claims they have hired external cybersecurity experts, informed law enforcement, and shut down certain systems to protect data

While there is no confirmation as to the form of attack that MGM Resorts shut down, certain systems point to a possible ransomware attack.

The current “cybersecurity issue” faced by MGM Resorts is also not the first time the company has been compromised. A breach of the company’s systems in 2019 resulted in the sale of 142 million stolen customer records on the dark web in 2020, with the stolen records later publicly shared on Telegram in May 2022.