Let's dive into this week's topic - the cyber attack that plagued the grandeur Las Vegas hotel and casino, MGM for over a full week.
Question: How to hack the MGM like a cyber attack professional?
Hint: It doesn't take much skill.
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The outage incident became widespread on the news on 9/13, and was reported to have been officially down two days prior.
For the weeks leading up, some entertainment employees had reported an inability to login, and some other weird technical glitches.
Caesars had to pay off the attackers.
Meanwhile, elevators were out of order, employees were concerned how they’d get paid, manual slot machines had no way to payout the customers...and this went on until yesterday, Wednesday the 20th (a full week!).
Want to know how they did it?
Apparently all they had to do was access another’s computer, via LinkedIn - identified as the unaware accomplice.
Or at least, the hackers were able to locate employee names on the platform, call directly to MGM without much hesitation and simply request a password change on the spot.
>Pretty scary that legacy operations can be so easily manipulated.
WHAT IS A LEGACY OPERATION?
Ever since AI became more commonplace this has become even more magnified of an issue.
outdated technologies, hardware systems in dire of upgrades, software and hardware solutions that are no longer supported by modern-day technologies…
…Sometimes these are outright noncompliant with regulatory standards.
and to top it off, they’re at risk for legal and financial liabilities.
To be 100% honest - this could be you. (And I won't judge if it is).
Because criminals can now iterate at lightning speed rates whatever evil concoction they dream up
(or, maybe? I don’t know how much censorship there is with AI. I do know it exists but am unaware of the extent).
For anyone with experience in a corporate environment with large IT teams, this is an utter disgrace.
The hacker didn’t even have to prove identity before requesting a password change. (This is where MGM went wrong).
But all it took was less than ten minutes and the entire casino system to get wiped.
AND remember, there were reported issues two weeks prior.
So, who spilled the beans?
Or….even more sinister, could it have been an employee? (Another hidden risk for all businesses).
The entire Las Vegas resort sees as many as 39 million visitors (give or take) per day.
The MGM estimates this outage resulted in a $20 million per day loss of revenue.
Yikes.
This is the world of the digital.
Adapt or get left behind.
Or…left with a desert city in the middle of nowhere.
I have a product that will be launching soon - stay tuned!