IGSA creates cybersecurity body in response to recent attacks

The International Gaming Standards Committee (IGSA) has responded to recent attacks against prominent gambling companies in the face of MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment and has moved forward with the creation of a dedicated division that will be tasked with analyzing threats, improving standards, and responding to such incidents in future.

The Cyber Resiliency Committee (CRC) is an initiative supported by Light & Wonder, Axes.ai, and Aristocrat Technology, and it will work on creating cyber risk management standards, cybersecurity governance and overall framework control standards to help casino operators run business safely in the gambling industry at a time of heightened criminal activity against the sector that has had a very strong impact already.

Commenting on this opportunity, IGSA Chairman and Axes.ai CEO Earle G. Hall hailed the efforts put by IGSA Platinum and Gold members to band together and respond to the newly-emerged threat. G. Hall added:

"Our members are clear that cybersecurity has to be a top priority for all gaming suppliers in our industry to protect operators and our industry at large. A sincere thank you to Aristocrat Technologies and Light & Wonder for stepping up to lead this initiative to improve our industry."

G. Hall was not the only member of IGSA to congratulate the organization on what has been a swift response. IGSA President Peter DeRaedt was similarly impressed with the efforts put into strengthening cybersecurity across the board.

"This committee will solicit experts within our membership to create ready-to-use standards to improve cyber resilience," he remarked, and offered his thanks to G. Hall who had agreed to act as interim chair and lead the committee at a time when the industry truly needs it.

These events take place in the context of two individual cyber attacks against MGM Resorts and Caesars, both of which were hit with attacks by hacker groups. MGM Resorts had to shut down certain systems at its properties while working on the matter and Caesars said that its loyalty program database had been impacted.

Even though these events targeted land-based operators for the most part, the online gambling business is also bearing the brunt of criminal activity. Stake.com, a respected global operator, suffered a hacking attack that saw the company lose millions worth of funds. To Stake.com’s credit, however, the operator did not interrupt service and returned back to normal hours after the attack.

Image credit: Unsplash.com