Casinos of tribal communities are losing millions in Ransomware attacks

The FBI issued a private industry notification (PIN) to warn of ransomware attacks that hit several tribal-owned casinos last year.

A private industry notification issued by the FBI’s Cyber Division revealed that ransomware attacks hit several tribal-owned casinos causing millions of dollar losses.

The attacks paralyzed the activities of the casinos shutting down their gaming floors, as well as restaurants, hotels, and gas stations. In many cases, the attackers were able to steal sensitive data from the targeted computer networks.

According to BleepingComputer, the FBI’s PIN states that US tribes as easy targets for ransomware gangs because they have limited cyber investigative capabilities and law enforcement resources.

Experts reported that tribal communities were hit by several ransomware gangs, including REvil/Sodinokibi, Bitpaymer, Ryuk, Conti, Snatch, and Cuba.

The list of tribal-owned casinos that were victims of ransomware attacks includes six Lucky Star tribal casinos belonging to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes (July 2021), the Seminole Nation’s casino in Oklahoma (May 2021), two Nez Perce Tribe casinos in Idaho (2020), the Ye-Ye Casino in Kamaiah.

The FBI and law enforcement expect a surge of ransomware attacks on tribal casinos.

Unfortunately, ransomware attacks are also targeting business and public services of tribal communities, including hospitals and schools.

The level of cybersecurity for infrastructure operated by tribal communities must increase and for this reason, US sgovernment is evaluating specific measures, including investments, to reach this goal.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, FBI)

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