Cyberattack Leads to System Shutdown of MGM Resorts

MGM Resorts International has shutdown some of its computer systems, following a cybersecurity incident. The hotel and casino giant witnessed its online reservation system, website, and even in-casino services like ATM, slot, and credit card machines getting impacted.

The company posted a brief note on its official Twitter (now X) page, wherein it disclosed the incident and said that it was working with external cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident.

‘’MGM Resorts recently identified a cybersecurity issue affecting some of the Company’s systems. Promptly after detecting the issue, we quickly began an investigation with assistance from leading external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement and took prompt action to protect our systems and data, including shutting down certain systems,’’ the statement read.

The resort owner also announced that it would continue with the investigation to understand the nature and impact of this incident, which began on September 11.

The attack not only impacted all the 31 MGM resorts, but also its rewards app. As a security measure, it has resorted to manual operations for payments, as credit card and ATM machines on its properties remain non-functional.

Customers, members of its Rewards program have been advised to get in touch with the desired resort’s reception for reservation and other services as the main website and app continues to remain offline.

MGM has not yet disclosed any details about the attack or the names of the threat actors behind the incident. Thus, the purpose of the attackers continues to remain unknown.

In the past few years, this is the second time that MGM Resorts has been subjected to cyberattack. Earlier in 2019, it suffered a security breach, during which hackers had stolen information like, names, date of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses of millions of hotel and casino guests.