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MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

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Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#21

Post by plasticsoprano »

mickdarling wrote: post #13
netsharc wrote: post #8

Ocean's 0x11? I wonder if it's just an attack against their email servers or a bigger one, how networked are their operations? If we believe the urban legends about how casinos operate, there's probably interesting conversations a cyber-attacker could find.

I was disturbed to hear from people first hand in Vegas saying it was making the ATMs inoperable. No details on how inoperable, like if it is just certain banking features or everything. The ATMs should not be effected in the same kind of attack that would take down the website and booking systems. Those should all be separate.

Casino floor ATMs aren't just ATMs. They are also ticket redemption machines and therefore have to connect to the MGM network to redeem. I'd imagine the whole machine shutdown for security reasons if network connection is lost.

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#22

Post by plasticsoprano »

tpmx wrote: post #6

I'm currently rewatching the Las Vegas (2003) NBC TV series (the one with James Caan, Josh Duhamel, James Lesure, Molly Sims, Nikki Cox, Vanessa Marcil etc). Feels on-brand; like every second ep is about some fantastic heist. It's worth rewatching as a guilty pleasure, IMO. Feels quite alien compared to current fare. It's dumb but well-crafted, fun and glitzy and never takes itself too seriously. I miss that kind of…

Ed Deline would never allow such as thing. Mike would most certainly be on it.

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#23

Post by glitchc »

lainga wrote: post #14
abathur wrote: post #7

Take w/ requisite salt, but per Daily Mail [1]: > Thousands of guests at MGM Resorts in the Las Vegas strip have been locked out of their hotel rooms after the company was hit with a cyber attack, according to reports. > MGM Resorts International has about 48,000 rooms on The Strip. The company's properties include Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio, Luxor and MGM Grand, among others. > The outage, first detected on Sunday n…

How do those hotel door locks work? When I had an apartment with a tap keyfob, it was battery-operated and the fob seemed to be programmed for that specific lock, so I thought they could work offline.

In a modern hotel with tap cards, all the locks are wired to a central system.

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#24

Post by napoleongl »

lainga wrote: post #14
abathur wrote: post #7

Take w/ requisite salt, but per Daily Mail [1]: > Thousands of guests at MGM Resorts in the Las Vegas strip have been locked out of their hotel rooms after the company was hit with a cyber attack, according to reports. > MGM Resorts International has about 48,000 rooms on The Strip. The company's properties include Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio, Luxor and MGM Grand, among others. > The outage, first detected on Sunday n…

How do those hotel door locks work? When I had an apartment with a tap keyfob, it was battery-operated and the fob seemed to be programmed for that specific lock, so I thought they could work offline.

These days the locks are online so that you can block a lost keycard from the front desk. Previously you had to open the lock with a never keycard than the lost one to make the lost one inoperable. That works kinda fine in a small hotel but not when you 48000 rooms with millionaires in them.

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#26

Post by mickdarling »

plasticsoprano wrote: post #21
mickdarling wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was disturbed to hear from people first hand in Vegas saying it was making the ATMs inoperable. No details on how inoperable, like if it is just certain banking features or everything. The ATMs should not be effected in the same kind of attack that would take down the website and booking systems. Those should all be separate.

Casino floor ATMs aren't just ATMs. They are also ticket redemption machines and therefore have to connect to the MGM network to redeem. I'd imagine the whole machine shutdown for security reasons if network connection is lost.

Yes, I think that MGM has actively shut everything down, rather than some massive hack that has effected all these separate systems.

Best guess is that with the F1 races coming soon with what is expected to be the largest cashflow through Vegas ever, that MGM Resorts IT found issues in an audit in preparation for that massive event, found anomalies, and pulled the rip cord to shut everything down till they could sort out what systems were actually hit.

That is materially different than a massive hack effecting all these various systems though.

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#27

Post by IAmGraydon »

mickdarling wrote: post #13
netsharc wrote: post #8

Ocean's 0x11? I wonder if it's just an attack against their email servers or a bigger one, how networked are their operations? If we believe the urban legends about how casinos operate, there's probably interesting conversations a cyber-attacker could find.

I was disturbed to hear from people first hand in Vegas saying it was making the ATMs inoperable. No details on how inoperable, like if it is just certain banking features or everything. The ATMs should not be effected in the same kind of attack that would take down the website and booking systems. Those should all be separate.

It’s entirely possible that these systems were hacked separately.

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#28

Post by plasticsoprano »

mickdarling wrote: post #26
plasticsoprano wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Casino floor ATMs aren't just ATMs. They are also ticket redemption machines and therefore have to connect to the MGM network to redeem. I'd imagine the whole machine shutdown for security reasons if network connection is lost.

Yes, I think that MGM has actively shut everything down, rather than some massive hack that has effected all these separate systems. Best guess is that with the F1 races coming soon with what is expected to be the largest cashflow through Vegas ever, that MGM Resorts IT found issues in an audit in preparation for that massive event, found anomalies, and pulled the rip cord to shut everything down till they could sort…

MGM has acknowledged it's an attack [1] and certain vegas gossip sites have stated that Caesars was hit last hit last week but was able to keep it better under wraps.

1. https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/mgm-re...

Re: MGM is down, cybersecurity attack ongoing

#29

Post by caol »

lainga wrote: post #14
abathur wrote: post #7

Take w/ requisite salt, but per Daily Mail [1]: > Thousands of guests at MGM Resorts in the Las Vegas strip have been locked out of their hotel rooms after the company was hit with a cyber attack, according to reports. > MGM Resorts International has about 48,000 rooms on The Strip. The company's properties include Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio, Luxor and MGM Grand, among others. > The outage, first detected on Sunday n…

How do those hotel door locks work? When I had an apartment with a tap keyfob, it was battery-operated and the fob seemed to be programmed for that specific lock, so I thought they could work offline.

MGM hotel rooms can be unlocked with smartphone NFC tap. You don't even need to visit the front desk to check in, just log in to the app. But if you can't open the app you can't get in your room. I'm guessing the front desk can issue keys to a guest in the event they lost their phone or something, but if the network is down for the front desk too then they might not be able to issue keys.
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