OAN’s James Meyers
3:24 PM – Friday, October 6, 2023
The cyberattack that occurred at multiple casino’s last month in several states reportedly cost the establishments millions of dollars.
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During a regulatory filing on Thursday, MGM Resorts announced that the recent cyberattack cost the casino titan over $100 million.
The incident, which occurred on September 10th, forced the MGM to shut down their casino and hotel computer systems at properties across the United States in an effort to protect their data.
The MGM said reservations and casino floors in Las Vegas and other states were affected, with customers posting on social media showing slot machines with error messages and queues at hotels in Las Vegas. On September 20th, MGM announced the end of the cyberattack after a 10-day shutdown.
A hacking group called AlphV claimed it was involved in the cyber attack. According to Reuters, AlphV worked with another hacking group called Scattered Spider to help break into MGM systems and steal data to hold for extortion.
“While we experienced disruptions at some of our properties, operations at our affected properties have returned to normal, and the vast majority of our systems have been restored,” MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said in a Thursday letter to customers. “We also believe that this attack is contained.”
The CEO also claimed that no customer bank account numbers or credit card information was compromised in the incident. However, hackers stole other personal information such as names, driver’s license numbers, contact information, passport numbers and Social Security numbers of some customers who did business with MGM before March of 2019, Hornbuckle said.
Additionally, MGM had no evidence that the hackers have used this data to commit account fraud or identity theft, according to Hornbuckel. He also noted that the company reached out to impacted customers via email and offered free identity protection and credit monitoring services. “We regret this outcome and sincerely apologize to those impacted,” he added.
Furthermore, the gambling company expects the breach will have a negative impact of almost $100 million to its adjusted property core profit for its Las Vegas division, and expects total occupancy to be at 93% for October compared to 94% in the same month a year ago.
The MGM said it is “well-positioned” to have a great fourth quarter with expected record results in November, due to the Formula 1 racing event taking place on the Las Vegas Strip.
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By: OAN
