LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — MGM Resorts International was hit with a cyber security issue. The hotel released a statement before 10 p.m., the machines in the casino are up and running again.
Since Sunday evening — the company has been battling a nationwide breach in its security. We can’t come up with an exact number of how much this national security breach will cost. However, an expert I spoke to says this is a common issue recently and could come with a price tag of millions of dollars.
It’s an unexpected sight for casino goers— to see slot machines go dark as a cyber security issue hit nine of their locations — including here in Las Vegas.
Steve Budin, an economic expert, said if the breach was limited to slot machines and credit card machines, there's something called business continuity insurance.
"So if you’re business is interrupted in any way, there are insurance policies that will protect you against that...I don’t think this is significant," Budin said.
He says as long as the breach is contained to a few days — generally, big corporations like MGM won’t really feel the impact even if the price tag comes with millions of dollars in damages: "Insurance might cover some of this. And number two, if its short term, you think over the next six months or a year they’ll make a couple of days losses back."
"If an attacker goes after you or me, they won’t get a payday," said Arthur Salmon, a computing and information technology officer at the College of Southern Nevada. "So the time and effort for them to go after a small company isn’t really worth it."
He says these kinds of attacks are common.
"Big companies are big targets because they have a big budget," he said.
In the meantime, MGM put in place multiple processes to continue to operate: Those include — having guests check in and out of the hotel through the front desk, guests gaining access to their rooms with a physical key if their digital one is inoperable and having guests make reservations by calling the restaurant directly or calling concierge.
