Many years ago, I, along with numerous others, fell victim to a cyber breach involving MGM. Even now, I continue to grapple with the enduring consequences of that breach.
Regrettably, countless businesses and corporations display an astonishing degree of foolishness by simply capitulating to the demands of these cyber terrorists. It is an act of sheer, unfathomable idiocy, nothing less.
Despite their hollow assurances, these terrorists inevitably peddle the stolen data on the clandestine depths of the black market, commonly referred to as the Dark Web.
Hats off to MGM, kind of, who currently stands firm in their refusal to yield to the ransom demands (at least for the time being).
However, it is expected and disheartening to observe that they, like so many others, seem incapable of learning from their previous blunders. They persist in repeating the same costly mistakes, placing an unwarranted trust in their IT administrators, who are often grossly underqualified, and sometimes excessively compensated, nincompoops hired ostensibly to safeguard everyone's data.
No longer being a tourist in Vegas fills me with relief. Just picture this: settling your hotel bill and other expenses solely in cash. Only the gamblers among us might have enough cash on hand, while the rest would be forced to make a trip to an ATM and subject themselves to exorbitant fees for a cash advance on their credit cards. The sheer financial burden is staggering. All because the staff at the casinos don't know how to manually process a credit card (by calling their credit card provider for authorization).
Anyhow, make no mistake, any ensuing losses will be shouldered by the unsuspecting tourists who flock to Las Vegas. The casinos, with their exorbitant rates and other fees, mirror each other in their lack of foresight and accountability.
Here are the two articles below:
• September 14, 2023 09:27 Caesars Paid "Tens of Millions" to Hackers:
It appears that recent rumors have been confirmed. According to Bloomberg, which released their story yesterday, hackers broke into Caesars Entertainment computer systems "over recent weeks" and threatened to release sensitive data unless the company paid up. Caesars, by its own admission in a required filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, complied -- with "tens of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg. VitalVegas' reports that the initial demand was $30 million, but Caesars bargained them down to $15 million. Reportedly, in this cyberattack, the hackers "breached an outside IT vendor before gaining access to the company’s network."
September 14, 2023 07:53 MGM Hackers Identified:
Four days later, MGM Resorts is still in the throes of the hacker attack on Sunday. The websites are still down, check-in lines have been miles long, other systems, including reservations and company email, have yet to recover, and the publicity is so onerous that MGM has actually admitted that the attack "represents a material risk to the company." In addition, credit-rating-agency Moody's issued a credit warning on MGM, indicating that the attack "highlighted key risks" at the company. Meanwhile, late Tuesday night, VX-Underground, a malware research firm, identified a ransomware group known alternatively as ALPHV and BlackCat as claiming responsibility for the attack, reporting that the group used social engineering to identify an MGM employee who worked in IT support from a LinkedIn account. With that information in hand, ALPHV apparently called the MGM help desk and 10 minutes later, amazingly enough, executed the attack. This information is unverified, but experts agree that VX-Underground is a highly reliable source and ALPHV is an effective hacker network responsible for at least 60 large cyberattacks. There remain many unknowns, but Yahoo is reporting that the hackers have embedded ransomware, but MGM is refusing, at least so far, to pay. And you can see a special YouTube report on the situation, with eyewitness accounts (and how the other casinos are capitalizing on the situation) in the seven-minute video.
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/news/
