Caesars Entertainment extorted by hackers

A group of cyber criminals known as Scattered Spider gained access to Caesars’ network weeks before MGM Resorts was also hacked.

Hackers recently breached Caesars Entertainment’s (Caesars) systems, costing the company millions of dollars as the operator paid the hackers ransom. The targeted cyber attacks started as early as August 27, according to Bloomberg.

The timing of the attack was weeks before MGM Resorts’ recent cybersecurity incident. The group of hackers breached an outside IT source before infiltrating Caesars’ company network.

Caesars paid tens of millions of dollars to the hacking group, calling itself Scattered Spider or UNC 3944. Caesars plans to include the cyber attack in a regulatory filing soon.

The hackers may have installed ransomware or used a phishing process that involves switching phone numbers via SIM to gain access to company data.

Hackers will then release the data back to the affected company after it pays the attackers. It has become more common for the extortion fee to be demanded and paid in cryptocurrency.

Yesterday, Caesars’ share price initially dropped to $52.35, but by close of market it had reached $53.82. MGM Resorts International stock has also experienced a drop from $44.02 on Friday last week to $41.75 at close of market yesterday.

Scattered Spider is estimated to be a group of young people working from both the US and the UK. The cyber criminals could be as young as 19 years old, and are also believed to be the same group that targeted MGM Resorts.

Stake.com was also hacked recently for approximately $41.3m through its cryptocurrency platform.

Stephanie Feeley

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