Casino Cybersecurity Threats: Expert Warns of Inevitable Breaches

Chase Cunningham, a retired Navy chief cryptologist, spoke at the World Game Protection Conference at South Point Casino in Las Vegas this week. He painted a grim picture for the casino industry, stating that despite significant budgets to fight cyberthreats, most companies will experience a breach at some point. Cunningham recommended focusing more on 'resilience in operations and blast control' rather than trying to prevent all breaches.

Cunningham's warnings come amidst a series of high-profile cyberattacks on major casino operators. In February, Wynn Resorts faced a breach when hackers demanded $1.5 million and threatened to release 800,000 employee records. Boyd Gaming acknowledged a security breach in September, with hackers gaining access to some employee information. The 2023 attacks against MGM cost the company $100 million, while Caesars Entertainment paid a $15 million ransom to regain control of many of its systems.

Online casino operators have also been targeted. In 2023, Mexican online gambling operator Strendus allegedly left player data accessible online after failing to set a password to secure the information. In 2022, PokerStars experienced hacking attempts during the World Championship of Online Poker tournament series, but player information remained secure. More recently, PokerGO experienced a DDoS attack at the start of the World Series of Poker main event final table, which was quickly resolved.