The house might not always win
MGM Resorts can’t seem to snap its losing streak, as the casino giant enters its 10th day of grappling with a cyberattack that is crippling the company — with everything from room keys to check-in systems and slot machines being reported broken. Beleaguered staff have resorted to doing hundreds of tasks manually, including in some cases hand-writing receipts for winnings.
MGM Resorts — which owns Vegas properties such as the Bellagio, Aria, and MGM Grand — is currently refusing to succumb to the hackers' demands. This is in contrast to its competitor, Caesars Entertainment, which reportedly shelled out $15 million in ransom, just days before the MGM attack, to the same notorious cyber group, known as “Scattered Spider”.
Stick or twist?
In the first half of this year, MGM Resorts made an eye-watering $7.8 billion in revenue, split mostly across gambling, rooms, food and entertainment. That’s ~$42m of revenue every day, and industry analysts estimate that the attack could be costing the company 10-20% of that figure, or roughly $4-8m a day. Management now has a very hard decision to make: either pay a hefty ransom, or hope that they can figure out a solution to wrestle back control on their own.
Scattered Spider, the group reportedly behind the attack, is now infamous, having been suspected of over 100 cyberattacks on major US corporations, spanning a spectrum of industries that include manufacturing, retail, and technology. Although packed with nefarious coders, the group’s entry into MGM's systems was reportedly low-tech — a call to the help desk impersonating an MGM employee.
