As it turns out, the hacker who targeted MGM Resorts might only be a teenager just 17 years old.
It’s possible that a young man of adolescent years was the perpetrator of the ransomware attack that brought down MGM Resorts in Las Vegas a year ago. An anonymous 17-year-old from the town of Walsall was taken into custody on Thursday by the West Midlands Police Department in England. The individual is suspected of being the one responsible for the closure of the resort and casino that was located on the Las Vegas strip in the previous year.
The young person was taken into custody on suspicion of blackmail and of breaking the Computer Misuse Act in the United Kingdom. The statement from the police department indicates that he was released on bail after being arrested.
With the assistance of the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, law enforcement agents tracked down the juvenile suspect. The police department stated that they were able to recover evidence at the residence of the youngster, which included “a number of digital devices that will eventually be subjected to forensic examination.”
Furthermore, the statement stated that the adolescent was a member of a “global cyber online crime group,” although it did not explain which group the adolescent belonged to. An announcement was made by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware organization that they were responsible for the cyber disruption that occurred at MGM Resorts. The purported assault took place on September 12, 2023, and it was a straightforward phone conversation to a Help desk employee that lasted for ten minutes. The information used in the attack was gathered from LinkedIn. At the same time, the gang has asserted that it is responsible for a ransomware attack that was carried out against the beauty firm Estee Lauder.
“All the ALPHV ransomware group did to compromise MGM Resorts was hop on LinkedIn, find an employee, and then call the Help Desk,” explained the organization in a post that was published on X.
The system shutdown that MGM Resorts experienced lasted for nine days and resulted in a significant disruption of service across all of its casinos located on the Las Vegas Strip. After some time had passed, it became public knowledge that other casinos, such as Caesars, had also been attacked by a different organization. However, Caesars had decided to pay the hackers tens of millions of dollars in order to prevent the exposure of private corporation data.