MGM cyberattack investigated by FBI: Las Vegas hotel computer systems including digital keys to the...
FBI Probes MGM Cyberattack: Las Vegas Hotel Systems Hacked Incl. Bellagio's Digital Keys & ARIA's Slot Machines
Written by Aneeta Bhole and Germania Rodriguez for Mailonline
Posted: 2:31 PM, September 12th, 2023 | Revised: 2:54 PM, September 12th, 2023
The FBI is currently looking into a cyberattack that resulted in disorder at various Las Vegas hotels. As a result, guests at the renowned Bellagio were unable to access any of its 3,933 rooms, while visitors at the ARIA casino found that their slot machines were malfunctioning, leaving the whole casino empty.
On Monday, the hotels owned by MGM Resorts International located on The Strip such as Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio, Luxor and MGM Grand, were affected by the assault. These hotels have a total of approximately 48,000 rooms.
The power outage, which was initially noticed on Sunday evening, had an impact on the communication system of the company, bookings, physical keys to rooms, and gambling machines in the casino.
On Monday, the organization announced that they have discovered a problem with their digital security that is affecting certain systems within MGM Resorts.
As soon as we discovered the problem, we immediately started looking into it with the help of well-known cybersecurity professionals from outside the company.
We let the authorities know and quickly took steps to safeguard our systems and information, which involved shutting down certain systems. Our investigation is still in progress, and we're working hard to figure out the extent and type of the situation.
The FBI is currently looking into a cyber assault that caused door locks to malfunction, slot machines to stop working, and reservation and email systems to shut down at various prominent hotels in Las Vegas. Guests were left with these issues as a result of this attack.
On Monday, the MGM Resorts International chain, which boasts over 48,000 rooms situated down The Strip such as Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Luxor, and Bellagio, was targeted in an attack.
According to a staff member called a concierge from the well-known Bellagio hotel, the entire system was not operating in both internal and external aspects. NBC News 3 reported on this issue.
According to a report from ktnv, MGM Resorts made an announcement around 8pm stating that their casino gaming floors were still in operation as they worked towards solving the problem.
The visitors who were staying at MGM hotels posted on social networking sites expressing their dissatisfaction with the matter, as lots of them revealed they couldn't access their accommodations.
Videos shot at the ARIA casino exhibited machines turned off throughout the gaming area, as funny images spread like wildfire on the internet, comparing the incident to the well-known 2001 movie "Ocean's Eleven".
The largest provider of employment in Nevada is MGM, which possesses the majority of the casinos situated on the famous Las Vegas Strip.
The website of the organization was not accessible when the assault occurred and advised individuals interested in bookings to contact them by phone.
People who stayed at MGM hotels posted on social networking sites to share their thoughts on the circumstances.
The machines that dispense cash and allow people to use credit cards were not functioning. The dining establishments at the establishments were solely accepting physical currency and payments for lodging were temporarily halted.
Visitors reported to 8NewsNow that they were denied access to their rooms on Sunday evening and could not buy meals because of the system failures.
There are people who have stated that they could not get their ticket and redeem their winnings after playing the slot machines at the casino.
The blackout seemed to impact other MGM resorts beyond Las Vegas, such as the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Biloxi situated in Mississippi.
In 2020, there was a cyber attack on MGM that impacted approximately 142 million guests.
Some of the individuals involved in the security breach included Jack Dorsey, who is the CEO of Twitter, as well as Justin Bieber.
ZDNet confirmed that the cyberattack did not expose any financial data and based on a statement from an MGM representative, the majority of information that was compromised was related to personal details such as names, home addresses, and email addresses.
