Daily Archives: October 1, 2023

It likely started with a phone call.

Well never know all of the details of the cyberattack that brought MGM Resorts International down for over a week. The details that are publicly available, however, are convincing enough to explain the size and scope of the outage: A hacker called its help desk and asked for multifactor authentication to be turned off on a highly privileged account. That, in turn, made it possible for the hackers to log into that account, either with a previously compromised password or with a password they successfully reset, without alerting the user of that account.

Once logged in, hackers used that account to seize control of the identity provider the system used to store the user names and passwords of everyone in the company thus compromising every other account used by the business. With that information, the hackers then proceeded to log into several systems and brought the company down.

Was the highly privileged account a dedicated administrative account or was it an account used routinely by a high-ranking member of MGM Resorts IT team? Did the highly privileged account have access to multiple systems or was it scoped to administer a single system? Why did the help desk, which normally doesnt have administrative access, have the ability to alter a highly privileged account an ability that a malicious help desk employee could just as effectively use to hack their employers system as the hackers who claimed responsibility for the attack?

The hackers and the MGM Resorts IT team know the answers to those questions but, for a variety of good reasons, well likely never learn them. MGM Resorts understandably doesnt want the rest of the world to know where its security vulnerabilities are lest another wave of hackers take advantage of the same weaknesses that compromised their business once already.

The hackers, meanwhile, have every incentive to appear invincible and inescapable or, at the very least, invincible and inescapable enough for a companys accountants to decide that it would be cheaper to pay a ransom than it would be to clean up after whatever damage the hackers might do.

The amount of damage and money lost by MGM Resorts, in fact, serves as excellent advertising, which is why the hackers are so territorial over claiming credit for the attack. They want future businesses to know that if they refuse to pay their ransom like MGM Resorts did, the same thing will happen to their business.

The damage, by the way, was and likely continues to be considerable. Even though MGM Resorts is now fully open for business, at least from the customers perspectives, that doesnt mean they have fully recovered from the attack. MGM Resorts was still struggling with paying employees days after the company fully reopened. Additionally, a public job post suggested that the company planned to perform recovery activities for the better part of a month following the conclusion of the attack.

Thats why Caesars Entertainment paid tens of millions to those who hacked its network and why MGMs losses are insured up to $200 million a successful cyberattack is an extremely expensive and disruptive experience. Paying hackers off so your business doesnt have to go through one is very tempting in the moment.

The logic behind not paying protection money, however, is every bit as seductive as when the mob shook casinos down after World War II. Sure, they did their work with a more personal touch than a phone call to a remote help desk but the principles remain the same.

What casinos used to understand what they were forced to understand, in many circumstances, with strong judicial encouragement from federal and state regulators was that paying ransom money supports the business of asking for future ransoms. If youre willing to pay multimillion dollar ransoms, whether thats because someone planted a bomb on your car or because someone undesirable has administrative access to your network and knows how to abuse it, more people are going to be interested in holding you ransom.

Reacting appropriately to that realization, however, requires appropriate incentives.

I dont say things like this very often but those incentives wont come from the free market. Caesars paid the ransom and was allowed to remain open for business, all while it quietly swept the leak of customer drivers license and Social Security numbers into a tartly bureaucratic SEC form. MGM Resorts, by contrast, refused to pay ransom and suffered visible disruptions, ironically enough, during a major information security conference. In the minds of customers who dont know any better, then, Caesars will seem the safer place to do business of the two.

The past months attacks against Caesars and MGM Resorts demonstrate that, in terms of pure market incentives, paying ransoms is a perfectly economically rational call. Break the numbers down far enough and it might even be cheaper to pay periodic ransoms and issue accompanying filings regarding the breach of customer data to federal regulators than it would be to have an acceptably robust information security posture.

Of course, in terms of pure market incentives, if youre a member of Caesars information technology team, you now know your employer pays ransoms. Given your knowledge of your employers network and systems knowledge that hackers usually have to guess at how much damage could you do with that information? How much might your employer pay to keep you from doing any of it? How much might a criminal be willing to pay you to use that information to your ah mutual benefit?

Would a criminal have to pay you to use that information if they credibly knew where you and your family lived?

This is why market incentives alone cannot solve this problem. Instead, the solution must come from the government. Just as Nevadas casinos arent legally allowed to pay off the mob anymore, Nevadas casinos should not be allowed to pay off cybercriminals. To ensure every casino does the right thing when faced with a cybersecurity attack, regulators must serve as barrier troops meaning they should be willing and capable of doing more damage to casino owners businesses when they retreat from their obligations to protect their customers data and pay ransoms than hackers can.

This approach has the added benefit of incentivizing stronger information security measures across the industry. When a casinos only choices are either facing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business or losing its license if they pay a hacker off, a casino will be willing to put far more time, money and effort into protecting its customers data than it might if it can quietly pay a few million and sweep the problem under the rug.

I, for one, am not interested in living in a world where the loss of my personal data is viewed as a routine cost of doing business. I doubt you are, either. If customers conclude that losing their personal data is viewed as a routine cost of doing business with Nevadas casinos, doing business with Nevadas casinos will become far less routine.

Oh, and if you work somewhere that uses Okta, send your IT team a link to Oktas guidance on securing its product from the sort of attack that befell MGM Resorts. Theyve likely already read it but it never hurts to have a refresher.

David Colborne ran for public office twice. He is now an IT manager, the father of two sons, and a weekly opinion columnist for The Nevada Independent. You can follow him on Mastodon @[emailprotected], on Bluesky @davidcolborne.bsky.social or email him at [emailprotected].

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Nevada's casinos should not be allowed to pay off cybercriminals - The Nevada Independent

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Lottery hearing on Concord Casino pushed to Oct. 13 - The Union Leader

Gambling has been an integral part of human entertainment, for as long as people have been around. Unsurprisingly, many artists, writers, and creators have been inspired by casino games, gambling, and casinos themselves to create some excellent stories or art. In this article, we are focusing on films that take place in a casino, or are heavily focused on gambling.

The 1995 film Casino, directed by Martin Scorsese is based on a book of the same name. It follows the story of a mafia-connected casino operator (played masterfully by Robert DeNiro) who reaches great highs, before his life turns upside down.

In many ways similar to a Greek Tragedy, Casino is a classic of cinema and an excellent mob movie in its own right. It takes place in the golden age of the Las Vegas casino, and perfectly captures the atmosphere of elegance, grandiosity, and debauchery that weve come to associate with Sin City.

Based on the real life story of the MIT Blackjack Team, 21 follows a group of MIT students and alumni, who use their mathematical skills to win at blackjack in casinos all over the world. Card counting is a time-honored tradition among gamblers. However, it is becoming exceedingly hard to do, due to the rise of online casinos. For example, you can look at the Nolimitcoins Casino review, and you will see that it is nigh impossible to cheat without breaking laws.

The film itself has garnered somewhat of a fan-following. However, it has also received a lot of criticism. Many people believe that it misrepresents events, mischaracterizes a lot of the people who were involved, and rushes the story. Whatever you believe, 21 is certainly quite a successful casino film.

Another film based on real events, Mollys Game is an Aaron Sorkin drama telling the story of one of the biggest, underground poker tournaments in history. Celebrities, millionaires, and high profile gamblers all gathered at the tournament organized by Molly Bloom. The film features Aaron Sorkin classic dry wit and snappy dialogue. If that sounds like something you enjoy, give it a go.

Can we possibly make a list of the best casino movies without bringing up the greatest spy in fictional history? James Bonds adventures are things of legend, akin to those of Hercules or Superman. He has seen it all, and done much more.

In 2006, the franchise underwent a soft reboot with the release of Casino Royale. Based on the first novel in the series, Casino Royale sees Bond travel to one of the biggest gambling destinations in the world, in order to take down an Albanian arms dealer. Action-packed, gambling-fueled, and incredibly fun, Casino Royale certainly deserves the praise.

What could possibly make Las Vegas more exciting? How about Zombies? In the 2021 action-horror film directed by Zac Snyder, we see a group of people plotting to rob a Las Vegas Casino. There is only one problem; Las Vegas is Zombie Capital. The Netflix-original film is a great alternative to classic casino movies that weve all seen. The star-studded, ensemble cast makes every scene worth watching.

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Top 5 Casino Movies and their Success Features Film Threat - Film Threat

By Todd Wessell | on September 29, 2023

A car whose occupants are suspected of smashing the rear windows of three vehicles that were parked at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines on Wednesday, Sept. 20 between 7:14 and 7:19 p.m. managed to elude police after turning onto the eastbound lanes of I-190.

Police believe that items inside two of the autos were taken. At about 7:15 p.m. after one of the victims parked their vehicle in a casino parking garage, someone smashed the rear passenger window and took items within the vehicle before fleeing the scene.

Security video showed a black Honda Civic with no front hubcaps pull up near the vehicle during the time of the incident.

A second similar offense, said police, had taken place in the same area a minute earlier. Items were also taken from this vehicle. Security video also showed a black Honda Civic with no front hubcaps pull up near the vehicle during the time of the incident.

At 7:19 p.m., another victim said the same type of damage occurred to his car, but nothing was taken. Again, security video showed a black Honda Civic with no front hubcaps pull up near the vehicle during the time of the incident.

Later that evening, Des Plaines police were dispatched to assist another agency regarding a report of several subjects in a black Honda Civic with no front hubcaps in a parking lot in Rosemont. The occupants of the vehicle were wearing ski masks, reports added.

Officers located the vehicle in a business parking lot in the 9600 block of Higgins Road in Rosemont on the border with Des Plaines. A Des Plaines officer positioned his squad car behind the Honda and observed that the vehicle did not have any registration.

As the vehicle pulled out onto Devon Avenue toward River Road, the officer activated his emergency lights in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle would not stop for the officer as it traveled south on River Road. The officer followed the vehicle until it entered the I-190 expressway eastbound where the pursuit was terminated.

It was later learned the Honda was the same vehicle that was seen on security footage allegedly committing the car vandalism in the casino parking garage.

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Rash Of Car Vandalism, Break-Ins At Casino On Sept. 20 - Journal & Topics Newspapers Online

The Medinah Temple reopened its doors earlier this month, this time as a casino. The building at the corner of Wabash and Ontario Streets in Chicagos River North neighborhood will be home to Ballys, the citys first-ever casino, until a permanent location is constructed in River West.

The temples onion-shaped domes, horseshoe arch and Arabic inscriptions got one Curious City listener wondering about the history of the Medinah Temple, as well as the community after which it was named.

The Medinah Shriners are the Chicago chapter of Shriners International, a fraternal organization founded in New York City, associated with Freemasonry. They built the temple in 1912 and used the building for events like the famous Shrine Circus, private raucous bashes and even ice shows throughout the 20th century. They also rented the space to outside parties like television station WGN and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The building has hosted some of Chicagos most celebrated events across the 111 years its been standing.

Today, the Medinah Shriners are based in suburban Addison. But this somewhat obscure organization played an integral role in not just the design of the building but also many of the events that took place there some of which are inseparable from the history of the city itself.

The Shriners are an offshoot of the Freemasons, a fraternal movement that originated in Europe and has historically been associated with secrecy and ritual.

The Shriners came to Chicago not long after the organizations founding, creating their first permanent home in the city in 1883.

In order to become a Shriner, members must first be Freemasons. Freemasons require new members to meet several criteria, including being adult men and being religious in some capacity. (They can be of any faith, though Freemasonry is mostly associated with European Protestantism.) Longtime member Paul Barber described the Medinah Shriners as a non-religious organization, but Masons are religious men. Masons in good standing must perform several additional rites and rituals in order to join a Shrine.

The Medinah Temple that stands today was constructed in 1912 by Shriners Harris Huehl and Gustave Schmid, two architects who designed hundreds of buildings throughout the Chicago area in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Medinah Temple is part of the Moorish revival architecture movement, a style that makes the temple look more like a mosque than a Masonic lodge.

The original interior of the building had several different chambers, most notably a 4,200-seat concert hall. This interior feature has since been demolished and remodeled, but the pavilion was incredibly ornate and acoustically ideal when it stood.

Jason Kaufman, an independent scholar and author who previously taught sociology at Harvard and studied the role of secret societies and fraternal organizations, said the Shriners are not unique in the appropriation of their aesthetic. Use of an Orientalist aesthetic that incorporated commodified, often racist imagery from Asian, North African and Middle Eastern cultures was part of a wider colonial trend during the 19th century. Western fraternal organizations frequently used Eastern characteristics to connote secret wisdom and knowledge.

As this particular order of Masons developed, it had a very ritualistic ceremonial and mysterious quality about it, Kaufman explained. [Their thinking was] if were going to form a group, were going to have this aesthetic that embraces it. And were going to have rites and rituals that create social solidarity amongst the members.

In the past few decades, Shriners have taken small measures to change the way they style themselves including calling their buildings Shrine Centers rather than temples. But they hold steadfast in how they dress, title their leadership positions and make use of Middle Eastern and North African symbolism. Jay Alfevirc, the current leader, or potentate, of the Medinah Shriners, said, Its been our heritage, it was a fun thing.

So the temples design, as visually impressive as it is, has an antiquated and misappropriated origin. But the building itself helps tell the history of Chicago through the events that took place there.

The Medinah Temple hosted some of Chicagos and the countrys biggest acts throughout much of the 20th century. This includes performances by Bozo the Clown and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as speakers like Studs Terkel. The temple also hosted countless community events such as high school graduation ceremonies.

The very best performances I ever saw [were] there. [The temple] used to be the recording studio for the Chicago Symphony. And when [it] was recorded, I would sneak in and listen to that.

Perhaps the temples biggest draw was the Shrine Circus. It came to town every year for decades, and drew thousands of people from across the Chicago area.

Barber, a Medinah Shriner since 1964, said hell never forget the time a circus tiger got loose.

There was [a tiger] that came on to the bandstand one day It didnt eat anybody but was just looking around, he said.

New types of performances often meant temporary changes to the buildings design.

When the ice show was there, they built a rink on top of the stage, Barber said. I filled it with water and ran freezers into it from out on Ontario Street and Ohio Street theyd have to run for a couple of days in order to make the ice.

The Medinah Temple also hosted a number of well-known political, spiritual and cultural figures, including Mayor Harold Washington, the Dalai Lama and former Vice President Dick Cheney in the 1980s and 90s.

The Shriners had a close relationship with Mayor Richard J. Daley, and made him an honorary member while he was in office.

He was well known for being the number one Irishman in Chicago and dying the river green, explained Jay Alfirevic of the Medinah Shriners.

Because of that, instead of the typical red fez, the Shriners presented Daley with a green fez with Mayor of Chicago stitched on it.

Eventually, many Shriners moved out of Chicago, and their largely suburban membership did not find the trips downtown worthwhile.

So after nearly a century of calling downtown Chicago home, the Shriners made the decision to sell the building and move to the suburbs.

The only problem was by that point, the temple had become architecturally iconic in the city. And people like Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago wanted the building officially designated with landmark status which comes with a host of regulations around how the buildings exterior can and cannot be updated.

All of a sudden when we decided we had to move from Medinah Temple, it got landmarked, and that made it way less attractive for buyers, said Barber.

Regardless, the building was landmarked in 2001, and sold later that year. Its exterior is protected from significant change or demolition due to its architectural importance.

The Medinah Temple is owned by Friedman Properties, a real estate firm that has rented the building to Macys (which operated it as a Bloomingdales for 16 years) and most recently to Ballys Corporation. The entertainment company opened a casino at the venue earlier this month. It has three floors of gaming and nearly 800 slot machines. City officials have said they have high hopes for the tax revenue the venture will bring for Chicago.

But with Ballys scheduled to move out in a few years once the casinos permanent location in nearby River West is completed, there is still a question of the buildings future.

Im hoping that in time the Medinah Temple can have a cultural and creative use, said Miller. And that people will be attracted to it by its architecture, by its history, by its historical and cultural legacy more than [by its use] as a temporary casino.

Anna Mason is a journalist and producer living in Chicago, specializing in local history and archival media. Follow Anna @annadotmason

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The history of the Chicago Bally's casino building, the Medinah ... - WBEZ Chicago