CYBER SECURITY
Betting on security
BRYTTNI CIMO REPORTS ON HOW THE GAMING INDUSTRY APPROACHES CYBERSECURITY REGULATION AND WHY IT IS NOT ENOUGH
Introduction In the digital age, cybersecurity has become a paramount concern for all companies with a digital footprint. There is one industry which despite being worth US$249 billion and being subject to regular attacks, is severely lagging. With large amounts of cash and vast reserves of sensitive data, including personally identifying information (“PII”), gaming companies represent an attractive target to the modern cybercriminal. Europe and the UK with strict privacy laws have taken a lead in cybersecurity. Meanwhile, in the United States, the regulatory structure that oversees the gaming industry has not caught up to the advancements in technology. Gaming has only recently been legalized in many US states so this could be the reason for the lag. Resistance from the industry itself could also be a factor. Whatever the reason, recent high-profile attacks have demonstrated that this area now needs to be a priority.
Present cybersecurity state of the gaming industry Cyberattacks are the newest form of terrorism and the gaming industry has suffered its share. In early 2020, MGM confirmed that they had experienced a data breach in the summer of 2019. 1 The company had not originally made the breach public, notifying only impacted customers. This decision unravelled, however, when approximately 10.6 million records of customer PII, including names, home addresses, phone numbers, emails, and dates of birth, were leaked as a free download on a hacking forum. MGM later corrected that the breach was much larger than initially reported and believed to have affected over 142 million customers of the brand. In May 2022, the incident resurfaced when a data dump was discovered containing all 142 million records from the 2019 hack. No financial, payment card, or password data was stolen, however all 142 million records went on sale on the dark web for US $2,900.
1 Catalin Cimpanu, ZDNET July 13, 2020, https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-hacker-is-selling-details-of-142-million-mgm-hotel-guests-on-the-dark-web/.
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2024
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