GGRAsia – MGM’s Macau ops unaffected by cybersecurity incident in U.S.

MGM’s Macau ops unaffected by cybersecurity incident in U.S.

Sep 13, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Casino operator MGM China Holdings Ltd says the two properties it runs in Macau have not been impacted by a cybersecurity incident that prompt the shutdown of some casino and hotel computer systems at MGM Resorts International properties across the United States.

MGM Resorts is the controlling shareholder of MGM China. The latter runs the MGM Macau casino hotel, on the Macau peninsula, and the MGM Cotai resort (pictured in a file photo), in the city’s Cotai district.

“MGM China operates our own independent IT environment and therefore we have not been affected by this incident,” a spokesperson from the firm told GGRAsia.

The incident began on Sunday and led to the shutdown of some casino and hotel computer systems at MGM Resorts properties across the U.S., a company official told the Associated Press.

According to media reports, guests complained about not being able to check in online, make credit card transactions, obtain money from cash machines, and enter hotel rooms using key cards. There were also reports of slot machines gone dark. Some company websites remained unreachable on Tuesday, reported the Financial Times.

The company issued a press release on Tuesday stating that “MGM Resorts recently identified a cybersecurity issue affecting certain of the company’s systems.” It did not call the incident a cyberattack.

MGM Resorts added: “Promptly after detecting the issue, we began an investigation with assistance from leading external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement and are taking steps to protect our systems and data, including shutting down certain systems.”

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed publicly it is investigating the incident.

MGM Resorts said its investigation was “ongoing”, and the firm was “working diligently to resolve the matter”. It did not provide detail on how many properties had been impacted by the cybersecurity incident, nor did it present an estimate of losses caused by the system shutdown.

BBC News reported this was the second time in five years that MGM Resorts had confirmed a cybersecurity incident.

In 2019, one of the company’s servers was reportedly breached, and hackers stole more than 10 million customer records, according to the media outlet.