{"id":310537,"date":"2024-02-13T08:10:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T14:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=310537"},"modified":"2024-02-13T11:55:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T17:55:14","slug":"ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware Pay Hit Record $1.1B in 2023, Hackers Hunted \u2018Big Game\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

2023 was \u201ca watershed year\u201d for ransomware attacks, and one in which ransom payments almost doubled to a record $1.1 billion high. That\u2019s according to a new report from Chainanalysis.<\/p>\n

\"Ransomware,
The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, pictured above. The casino giant refused to pay the ransom that accompanied a September 2023 cyberattack, and the ensuing disruption caused an estimated $100 million in damage. (Image: CoStar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The New York-based blockchain analysis firm noted that hackers are increasingly deploying a \u201cbig game hunting\u201d strategy. That means going after global corporations, such as British Airways, and casino giants like MGM Resorts International<\/a> and Caesars Entertainment<\/a>, in search of bigger payloads.<\/p>\n

\n

Ransomware payment volume increasingly involved payments of $1 million or more, the report stated.\u00a0Hospitals, schools, and government agencies were also frequently targeted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201c2023 marks a major comeback for ransomware, with record-breaking payments and a substantial increase in the scope and complexity of attacks \u2014 a significant reversal from the decline observed in 2022,\u201d Chainanalysis researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

Prime Target<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The gambling industry has long been a target for ransomware attacks. But until the last decade, online gaming sites have been the most common prey for hackers. Sports betting and poker platforms are prime targets, because cybercriminals can easily gauge peak business hours, such as during a major sporting event or a flagship poker tournament series.<\/p>\n

\n

The criminals can then hit them with a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS), which temporarily paralyzes a website with thousands of meaningless requests for information. Often, it\u2019s cheaper for the gambling site to simply pay the ransom and move on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But land-based casino operators are now increasingly targeted, and that includes the biggest players in the industry.<\/p>\n

Scattered Spider<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In September 2023, a hacking group known variously as \u201cScattered Spider\u201d or \u201cOcto Tempest\u201d launched devastating ransomware attacks on MGM and Caesars.<\/p>\n

MGM refused to pay the ransom and experienced disruption to its operations that\u00a0lasted for days<\/a>\u00a0and caused an estimated $100 million in damage. Caesars paid the hackers around $15 million to have normal services restored, according to\u00a0The Wall Street Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Scattered Spider is an amorphous group of hackers that engages in various crimes, from ransomware to sextortion and phone scams. But the group has recently turned to \u201cbig game hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Scattered Spider is notable because its members are mainly English-speaking. High-profile cybercrime has traditionally been the domain of East European criminal gangs or state-sponsored hackers backed by China, Iran, or North Korea. This shows how threats are diversifying.<\/p>\n

FBI Takedown <\/strong><\/h2>\n

But the report also praises the progress made by law enforcement in combating ransomware attacks. This included the FBI\u2019s infiltration of the group known as \u201cHive\u201d in 2022, which the report suggests contributed to a significant reduction in attacks that year.<\/p>\n

The federal agency was able to provide decryption keys to more than 1,300 of Hive\u2019s victims, essentially preventing the need for ransom payments. This intervention prevented approximately $130 million in ransomware payments in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2023 was \u201ca watershed year\u201d for ransomware attacks, and one in which ransom payments almost doubled to a record $1.1 billion high. That\u2019s according to a new report from Chainanalysis. The New York-based blockchain analysis firm noted that hackers are increasingly deploying a \u201cbig game hunting\u201d strategy. That means going after global corporations, such as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":310538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,18,18943,16693],"tags":[82466,89860,81989,87938,83997,84238,88000],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRansomware Payments Hit Record $1.1B in 2023<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ransomware payments almost doubled in 2023 as hacking groups went after big game like MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ransomware Payments Hit Record $1.1B in 2023\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ransomware payments almost doubled in 2023 as hacking groups went after big game like MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-13T14:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-13T17:55:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/MGM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/\",\"name\":\"Ransomware Payments Hit Record $1.1B in 2023\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/MGM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-13T14:10:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-13T17:55:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Ransomware payments almost doubled in 2023 as hacking groups went after big game like MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ransomware-payments-hit-record-1-1b-in-2023\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/MGM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/MGM.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, pictured above. The casino giant refused to pay the ransom that accompanied a September 2023 cyberattack, and the ensuing disruption caused an estimated $100 million in damage. 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