Tune in for the latest news covering the second arrest for the MGM cyber attack, which brought the company to its knees for 10 days. (Images courtesy on tarikulislam on Vecteezy)
The internet news wires are awash with news of the arrest of a suspect possibly involved with the MGM cyber-attack last year.
UK police announced the second arrest in regard to the attack, this time a 17-year-old male under the Blackmail and Computer Misuse Act. The arrest took place in Walsall, north of Birmingham, in England’s midland area.
As part of the announcement, UK police said that the suspect was under suspicion of being involved in the MGM cyber-attack. It is also thought he is part of an organisation that holds large corporations to ransom and uses ransomware on a global scale.
At this time, it appears the suspect has already been released on bail while the police investigate the matter further. Police have said they have confiscated digital equipment that they believe is evidence of the crime and will await the results of forensic examination.
For MGM, the FBI, and other police authorities involved, this is the second breakthrough in the case. Spanish authorities have already arrested the alleged mastermind behind the attack, who was another British male, 22 years of age.
However, evidence of his involvement is either not available or is being withheld until the FBI and other authorities involved can build a case strong enough to take the alleged mastermind to court.
At the time of the first arrest, the unnamed British national attempted to leave the country on a flight from Palma de Mallorca and head to Naples. My question is, why not Dubai or North Cyprus? These are the two most well-renowned destinations for cyber attackers and other criminals on the run, or maybe he just didn’t realise the game was up and was just floating around Europe freely.
Both the 17-year-old and 22-year-old makes are apparently part of a hacking network called the Spider. Although many call it the Spider cybercrime group, I am pretty sure the hackers themselves simply refer to their group as ‘Spider.’
No Jail Sentence Issued at this time
Despite the two arrests, investigations are ongoing. Unlike the BetMGM case, where justice has already been served, the police or the USA’s FBI have yet to produce concrete evidence suggesting the two individuals on bail will go to court.
However, the case against the 22-year-old British national appears strong enough to keep him behind bars as he is currently being held in a provisional prison in Spain. I am sure that as soon as concrete evidence against either of the alleged ‘Spider’ hackers comes to light, the next step for the US will be to issue extradition orders.
DraftKings, another large US gambling entertainment giant has also been hacked in the past by a group who stole $600,000 from around 1,600 DraftKings customers, which has already resulted in prison time – see the full Prison Time for hacking DraftKings news report here.
MGM Attack and Caesars Entertainment Both Hacked in 2023
Towards the end of 2023, there were two major cyber-attacks on US online gambling entertainment companies.
According to news outlets reporting on Caesars Entertainment’s attack, the gambling company ended up paying a ransomware hacker team $15 million, although this is just conjecture. Overall, Caesars Entertainment’s operations were not disrupted, and to be fair, this is just pocket change for the company.
On the other hand, MGM Resorts refused to pay the ransom demanded. Most estimations of the losses accrued due to the following 10-day system outage causing the company’s systems to malfunction are estimated to be around $100 million.
MGM’s stance was that shutting down its systems and not paying the ransom was a message to hackers, and it seems MGM was willing to take the financial hit.
It’s pretty scary when you think these hackers were able to affect card transactions and ATMs inside casinos connected to MGM, and the hackers even disrupted parking systems connected to the casino firm. That’s one hell of a sophisticated attack.
For now, the story continues, and so does the investigation as the FBI and other agencies across the globe hunt down those connected with the Scattered Spider hacking organisation.
Another hack! On top of the Caesars, MGM, and DraftKings cyber-attacks, last year Stake.com also suffered from a cyberattack, losing approximately loss approximately $41 million – read more via our Crisis at Stake.com news report.
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