A spyware campaign using tools from a secret Israeli firm was used to attack and impersonate dozens of human rights activists, journalists and others. – Photo: © AFP
MGM International has revealed that it is dealing with a cybersecurity issue that has affected some of its systems. In mid-September the corporation suffered an incident that took many systems offline for most of the week.
It has been suggested that the Scattered Spiders hacking group (which also operates under the codename UNC3944) was behind the cybersecurity incident. This criminal group is currently targeting the gaming and hospitality industries.
The Scattered Spiders are believed to be a group of young adults based in the US and UK who are known to use various forms of social engineering to launch their attacks. It is a mixture of techniques aimed at getting a target to reveal specific information or to take a specific action for illegitimate reasons.
It has been speculated that the attack was carried out towards the IT helpdesk of the entertainment venue. Hackers have been known to use a combination of telephone, email, snail mail, and direct contact to gain illicit access.
In view of this attack on MGM Resorts International digital journal Ariel Parnes is: former head of the Cyber Department of the Israeli Intelligence Service, winner of the Israeli Defense Prize for significant technological innovations in the cyber field. Parnes currently works for Mitiga.
Parnes began by looking at MGM’s official correspondence, noting that the communication is somewhat incomplete: “Although MGM’s official statement provided a comprehensive description of the incident, many questions remain unanswered. The specifics of the breach, the extent of data accessed, and the potential impact remained unclear, which is to be expected given the ongoing nature.
This creates a problem for the company, as Parnes explains: “This lack of clarity inevitably paves the way for rumors and speculation.”
As to why the casino group has been reluctant to reveal more, Parnes speculated: “The veracity of the information released by the MGM attacker remains uncertain. It is entirely possible that this revelation is part of a deliberate psychological campaign aimed at putting additional pressure on MGM.
The analysis continues: “Such tactics can be used to sow doubt, create internal discord, and further the attacker’s agenda, making it imperative to approach such claims with caution and skepticism.”
“Even though the statement does not describe the true story, it sheds some light on how attackers took advantage of the inherent complexity of hybrid environments with on-premises data centers, cloud, and SaaS (software as a service) Can.”
Source: www.bing.com
