Crown Resorts Gambling House Experiences Data Theft Through Ransomware Attacks

JAKARTA - Australia's largest casino company, Crown Resorts, announced that it had been contacted by a ransomware group claiming to have gained access to several company files following a data breach on the GoAnywhere file transfer service.

"We were recently contacted by a ransomware group claiming to have illegally obtained a number of files belonging to Crown," a spokesman for the company said in a statement. "We can confirm that no customer data has been affected and our business operations have not been affected," the spokesperson added. He also added that the company is investigating the validity of claims from the ransomware group.

Suspicious activity at GoAnywhere has been identified by US cybersecurity firm Fortra nearly two months ago, and has affected many organizations, including mining company Rio Tinto. Crown Resorts have faced very stringent checks in recent years after being found to have violated money laundering law, while the COVID-19 lockdown undermined the company's profits and stocks.

As regulatory investigations found Crown unfit for gambling licenses, the company was purchased in a $6.3 billion deal by US private equity firm Blackstone Inc in June last year.

Crown's announcement comes after several prominent cybersecurity breaches in the country in recent times, including the latest data breach case at consumer financial firm Latitude Group, in which hackers stole nearly 8 million SIM numbers for Australian and New Zealand drivers.