In September 2023, MGM Resorts was put on its toes when its online service endured a sophisticated cybersecurity attack. While the attack was on, different MGM online services suffered some downtime while the company tried to kick the hackers out of their services. The aftermath of the attack cost MGM a huge sum and the possibility of a breach of their users’ private data.
MGM is not the only gambling establishment to have endured a cyberattack in recent years. In fact, cyberattacks have been on the rise in the past few years, and iGaming companies have not been spared by hackers.
With new laws legalizing iGaming in different regions every now and then, online gambling keeps gaining popularity. More iGaming traction means more players giving their info to casinos and truckloads of money moving around in the digital industry. For hackers, this is a gold mine, and all the attacks that have been reported in recent years show that they are steadily trying to breach the casinos’ defenses.
Common Threats
Hackers use various innovative methods to try to illegally take money from casinos jw8, but these are their most common techniques.
1. DDOS Attacks
DDOS means Distributed Denial of Service, and for this attack, the hackers will spam the client’s server with traffic to crash their servers. In most cases, they plan their attack for a time when the casinos cannot afford to have an outage like during an important event.
Once they have caused the casino downtime, they can ask for money before they release the system. In some cases, they might also be able to take advantage of the web servers’ malfunction to steal sensitive user data.
2. Compromising Player Devices
Cybercriminals also find ways to infiltrate users’ devices to steal important information. For instance, by installing a keylogger on a person’s device, they can log payment information or some other sensitive data without the user knowing. They could also install ransomware on the device and demand payment before releasing the device.
3. Social Engineering
Social Engineering is one of the most popular methods of cybersecurity attacks worldwide. Most companies have a foolproof system for keeping hackers out, but if hackers can get information like login details from an employee, they can cause a lot of damage.
Most of these attacks are carried out through phishing, where hackers use deceptive emails, fake websites, or malicious links to trick the user into giving out some important information. Once the hackers have gotten into the system through social engineering, they usually have a smooth run through the rest of the operation.
Innovative Solutions
As attacks increase, the tools for defending against them are also getting better. Even though the success of some cyberattacks makes it look like the casinos’ defenses are weak, this is not the case. Online platforms are constantly fending off thousands of attacks with their solid digital defense software.
As a user, you can protect yourself by paying close attention to the sites you visit or the mobile apps you download. A trick that hackers frequently use is to create a fake version of a casino to get users to input their data into it. You can avoid this by always checking if the URL of the casino you’re accessing has an HTTPS layer.
With mobile software, ensure you verify the authenticity of the developer from the Google Play or iOS app store and check out for customer review ratings. That way you’d only play games on secure online casino apps that guarantee the safety of your data.
On the other hand, reliable iGaming websites always use state-of-the-art technology to protect users from malicious hackers. They are familiar with conventional cybersecurity techniques like rate limiting, KYC requirements for registration, and server-client communication encryption. However, beyond just these common methods, they are always trying out new tricks to stay ahead of the hackers.
Since it’s 2024, one new trend that is catching on is the use of AI for managing new cybersecurity risks. AI can keep a close watch on users’ behavior and identify suspicious activity by humans or automated activity by bots that need to be investigated. There are many small signs that humans cannot notice because of the amount of traffic these sites receive daily, but a well-trained AI tool can spot malicious behavior even in large data.