Through its Cyber Crime Division, the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) has warmed native casinos of possible ransomware attacks. While there have been similar attacks on tribal casino resorts in the past, the Cyber Crime Unit is warning of the rise of these crimes.
The bureau distributed notifications last week to tribal casinos. The FBI explains that tribal casinos are like mammoth and light because they seem like they have security weaknesses.
Bleeping Computer reported about the FBI’s intelligence. The information security and technology media explained that tribal casinos were targets on sovereign lands, and their information technology infrastructure was at grave risk of attack.
Sergui Gatlan for Bleeping Computer continued to explain that tribal casinos lacked enough cyber investigative and law enforcement resources. According to Gatlan, this could be one of the reasons why tribal casinos are a target for ransomware attacks.
The Cyber Crime Division said that many tribal nations had world-class computer networks, was IT savvy, and had great gaming systems. But, some casinos still operate using basic internet security measures.
Tribal Casinos Have Spent Millions to Recover Their Systems
In September last year, the Cache Creek Casino Resort in California had to close its gaming property following a cyber attack. The casino’s management told its clients that it was closing because of a system failure.
Later, the resort owner, Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, confirmed that cyber attackers were the reasons for the casino’s earlier closure. The resort was closed for three weeks.
This year, six Lucky Star Casinos were attacked in Oklahoma. The casino officials confirmed they were working with the FBI after determining cyber attackers were behind the system downtime.
According to the FBI, tribes have spent millions of dollars to pay ransom for cyber attackers to restore their IT systems. The bureau said that these attackers asked for payment through cryptocurrency, which is nearly impossible to track.
Losing the ransom money is not the only loss a casino can incur. Instead, these casinos lose revenue during the time they remain closed. Moreover, the attackers can decide to steal clients’ data, including financial, business information, and personal details.
The FBI on Its Toes to Curb the Menace
FBI Director Christopher Wray said criminal cyberattacks had risen in the past ten years. Wray was talking during the Economic Club of New York last month. He noted that cyber threats were prevalent and hit a larger group of people, resulting in more significant damage than before.
Wray explained that dealing with cyber security would remain the bureau’s priority or among the top things it has to deal with as long as cybercriminals continue to innovate ways to attack. The FBI Director said his agency was working on preventing attacks or attacking the criminals before ensuring no significant harm was caused.
Wray also explained that cybercriminals in today’s world work in an organized network. He noted that some of these had administrators who were skilled in coding. Wray also brought to light that some act as affiliates to negotiate bounties with attacked companies.
The FBI is working on disabling cybercriminals’ domains, servers, and botnets. Ideally, it is working on scrambling the whole infrastructure of the cybercriminals system.
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