MGM Resorts breached by ‘Scattered Spider’ hackers: Sources
(Reuters) — A hacking group named Scattered Spider brought down the systems of $14 billion gaming giant MGM Resorts International this week, two sources familiar with the matter said, as U.S. law enforcement officials started a probe into the breach.
Several MGM systems remained paralyzed for a third straight day after it said Monday it had shut some of them to contain a “cybersecurity issue.”
The company, which operates over 30 hotel and gaming venues around the world, said it was investigating the incident.
The FBI said Wednesday it was investigating the incident but did not elaborate. The rating agency Moody's warned the breach could negatively impact MGM's credit rating.
Meanwhile, Caesars Entertainment on Thursday confirmed a data breach that led to a leak of information, including details from its loyalty program database.
The company said hackers accessed details, including driver's license numbers and possibly Social Security numbers, for a significant number of members in the database.
The disruption originated from a “social engineering attack” on the company's outsourced IT support vendor.
The full impact of the breaches was not immediately clear, although social media posts showed slot machines and systems down at MGM venues in Las Vegas.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the hacking group Scattered Spider was behind it. Identified by analysts last year, this group uses social engineering to lure users into giving up their login credentials or one-time-password (OTP) codes to bypass multifactor authentication, the security company Crowdstrike said in a blog post in January.
Scattered Spider, also known as UNC3944, has hit telecom and business process outsourcing companies in the past, but more recently also targeted critical infrastructure organizations, according to analyst reports.
