Casino Cybersecuirty Threats
Hacking is the primary risk for online casinos from cyber attacks, and it’s crucial that operators take measures to prevent loopholes and exploits from giving criminals access by the back door. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at how serious the security threat is and how online casino brands are using technology to reduce the risks. How Big Is The Security Risk To Online Casinos? As many as 30,000 websites are hacked every day, across the globe. So, it’s clear that cyber-security is a major issue across all industries. Explanation of the Current Alert Level of GUARDED. The alert level is the overall current threat level. Read more about our approach. On January 27, the Cyber Threat Alert Level was evaluated and is remaining at Blue (Guarded) due to vulnerabilities in Cisco, Mozilla and Apple products. On January 21, the MS-ISAC. Venues in Las Vegas have been repeated targets of cyber attacks. MGM Grand is currently facing court action over a security breach during the summer that exposed the personal details of a reported. Casino protection staffs will utilize a variety of approaches to improve the safety or the property and to minimize risks from criminal activity. Amy Strickhouser is a Psychology and Criminal Justice major at.
You've seen enough Hollywood blockbusters about casino heists to know that gambling institutions are constantly in the crosshairs of attackers—online and off. In the digital realm, however, better malware tools and access to deep funding make today's cyber criminals more than a bad movie, especially when lucrative payloads are for the taking.
The Hard Rock Casino has been hit by a series of casino breaches, marking a worrisome trend among data breach victims: most targets have suffered one or more similar compromises in the recent past. This pattern of repeated breaches is especially true of retailers and banks, and increasingly—casinos and gaming enterprises.
In May 2015, attackers were able to steal cardholder names, credit card numbers, and CVV codes belonging to hotel guests and customers. In 2016 they suffered similar incidents due to malware being installed on POS systems, allowing attackers to steal customers' credit card information.
Investigators hired by the casino discovered unauthorized POS network access and the presence of malware, leading to this statement issued on June 27, 2016 regarding the second data breach due to malware. However, this time the attack was more widespread than the year before, targeting the resort itself—as opposed to restaurants and retail locations within the hotel. And like other recent attacks, PoS scraping malware was used to steal customer data as it entered the resort’s payment card system.
In 2017 still more customer data was exposed through a far-reaching breach of the Sabre booking system. While Hard Rock itself was not at fault, they still bore the effects of having their name associated with yet another loss of confidentiality regarding customer data. Eleven hotels were affected.
It may come as no surprise that casinos and gaming firms are ideal cyber attack targets, but how competent are these enterprises when it comes to rudimentary security? Given the volume of privileged financial data collected, you'd expect to see corresponding security measures in place. Let's take a look at some of the top casino/resorts and see if this is the case.
Bellagio: 751
The Italian-themed Las Vegas hotel/resort and casino scores a solid 751 CSTAR rating. Apparently its fortress-like facade is more than just looks—but a few gaps such as lack of HTTP Strict Transport Security and DNSSEC make for a less-than-optimal security posture.
Caesars Palace: 504
Arguably Las Vegas' most well-known hotel/resort, Caesars Palace—despite its towering facade—has left its digital fortress poorly protected. Lack of DNSSEC and server data leakage are a few of its security shortcomings, along with a 53% CEO approval rating, which increases the risk of internal attack.
The Venetian: 561
Casino Cybersecurity Threats Vs
This five-diamond luxury hotel/casino may not be the only Italian-themed megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip, but unlike its counterpart the Bellagio, the Venetian lacks various website perimeter security controls—sitewide SSL, DMARC, and DNSSEC, to name a few.
Are Online Casinos More Resilient?
Brick-and-mortar gambling establishments are one thing, but what about online casinos born in the cloud? You wouldn't be be blamed for assuming thats casinos are essentially the world's largest banking operations. But unlike banks, casinos resorts are faced with a myriad of risks introduced by on-site retail establishments, service operations, and countless public-facing ATMs and card readers. The Hard Rock Casino may have fallen victim to sophisticated malware and PoS scraping technologies, but if recent history is any indication, proper patching and vulnerability detection could have saved them from a repeat compromise. This is what UpGuard's resilience platform provides: validation that your systems are free from security flaws, vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations that could lead to data breaches and outages.
This post will show how online gambling sites use technology to ensure player security.
There are more than 2,800 online casinos operating across the world. This makes the industry extremely competitive. It also means that, naturally, it’s a prime target for cyber-attacks. This is a major concern for players; so, casinos that want to lead the way need to pay close attention to the security of their operations.
As confirmed in an in-house data analysis made by Justgamblers, the main thing players look for when choosing a casino is security. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at how serious the security threat is and how online casino brands are using technology to reduce the risks.
How Big Is The Security Risk To Online Casinos?
As many as 30,000 websites are hacked every day, across the globe. So, it’s clear that cyber-security is a major issue across all industries. This is no different for online casinos, especially given the growing number of these sites online. This was highlighted earlier this year when ZDNet reported the news of Chinese hackers who had been targeting betting sites in Southeast Asia.
The group began its activities in the summer of 2019 and interfered with the security of several websites in the industry. In addition to the activities in Southeast Asia, there were rumours that the hackers were also active in Europe and the Middle East. This is just one example of how big the threat is. For this reason, online casinos are embracing technology in order to remain secure.
The Technology Used To Keep Online Casinos Secure
Given the threat from cyber-criminals, it’s not surprising that online casinos are using technology to help them keep their websites secure. Let’s take a closer look at how three types of technology are being used.
1. Blockchain technology
Casinos were originally slow to use blockchain technology in their operations. However, since the retail industry started to embrace technology, online gambling sites have started to follow suit. Once the blockchain has been created, using a string of numbers, it cannot be changed. This helps to protect it against hackers. Overall, the decentralized and transparent nature of blockchain means that it makes it more difficult for a casino’s security to be compromised.
Casino Cybersecurity Threats Against
2. Cloudflare
The content delivery network (CDN) Cloudflare does not wish to disclose which online casino companies are using their platform, but we know based on a /cdn-cgi/trace/ that Cloudflare is commonly used by online casinos. One of the main reasons for this is the security and performance services it provides. This includes protection from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and the provision of a web application firewall (WAF). The security provision also includes IP Access Rules and Zone Lockdown. Having all these measures available in one place is a valuable benefit to online gambling sites that want to protect player security.
3. 128 and 256-bit encryption
Both of these methods of encryption turn players’ personal and financial information into strings of unbreakable code. This provides an extra level of security and is the same encryption that is used by financial institutions. Casino sites that use encryption have https at the start of their website name.
As the online casino industry continues to grow so will the number of cyber-criminals who want to attack related sites. This means that casinos will continue to be vigilant and to use the latest technology to protect them and their players against the threat.
Today's Cyber Security Threats
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