Mgm Hotels & Casinos in Concern: Shutdown Due to Possible

Several hotels affected – including in the gambling metropolis of Las Vegas

The MGM Resorts appear to have fallen victim to a cyber attack. As the US daily newspaper USA Today reports, more than a dozen MGM Hotels & Casinos have had to temporarily suspend operations after cyber security problems arose last Sunday. The systems should remain switched off until the problem is solved.

According to USA Today, all MGM Grand hotels and casinos were affected by the cyber attack, which may have been carried out with so-called ransomware, including some well-known properties in New York and the Casino metropolis Las Vegas.

Ransomware may have been used in the cyber attack on MGM Hotels & Casinos. But what is it actually about? The term ransom means ransom in German. And that could be exactly what is behind the current attack. Ransomware is often referred to as blackmail software. Ransomware is Trojan horses or other malicious software that can infect the system, encrypt data for users and significantly disrupt processes. The masterminds of these attacks then make the data accessible again after paying a ransomlich. Private computers can also become infected with ransomware.

Irregularities in many areas

According to some guests, the cyber attack affected several areas. For example, there were disruptions at ATMs, restaurants, slot machines in casinos and access to hotel rooms. Room bookings are still possible, but only by phone or email.

MGM Resorts recently discovered a cybersecurity incident affecting some of the company's systems […] Our investigation is ongoing and we are working diligently to resolve the matter. - official MGM announcement on X

Not the first incident at MGM

The current incident is not the first of its kind at MGM. There was already a cyber security incident in 2019 in which personal data of 142 million guests was stolen by hackers and posted on a marketplace on the dark web.

The stolen data mainly consisted of names, email addresses and postal addresses.

It remains to be seen how long the shutdown at MGM will last and how much damage will be caused.

MGM Hotels & Casinos in concern: shutdown due to possible cyber attack