Caesars Entertainment Experiences Ransomware Attack, Pays Half Of Hacker Ransom Demand

Caesars Entertainment confirmed that there was a data violation (photo: Twitter @CaesarsEnt)

Caesars Entertainment on Thursday, September 14 confirmed a data breach resulting in a leak of information, including details from its loyalty program database.

The company said hackers accessed details, including SIM numbers and possibly Social Security numbers, for "a large number of members in the database."

The disruption stems from a "social engineering attack" on the IT support vendor leased by the company.

"We have experienced, and may continue to experience, a number of costs related to this attack, including costs to respond, address, and investigate this issue," Caesars said in a filing of his latest regulations.

Caesars paid about half of the ransom demand of 30 million US dollars (Rp460.4 billion) requested by hackers following a cyberattack that took place this summer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Caesars added that they are still investigating the extent of the data leak "which was obtained by unauthorized perpetrators" and until now there is no evidence that the member's codeword/PIN, bank account information, or payment card information are accessed.

Another casino operator, MGM International, was also allegedly hacked by a group called Scattered Spider, Bloomberg News reported.

Several MGM systems remained paralyzed during the third day in a row, Reuters reported on Wednesday, September 13 after the company shut down several computer systems due to undisclosed cybersecurity issues.

Analyst Moody's has warned that MGM Resorts may see a negative impact on its credit rating following a recent data breach.