A tribal casino in North Carolina has fallen victim to a cyberattack, and the hackers say they will release blueprints for the facility if it doesn’t pay the ransom. The Catawba Nation-operated Two Kings Casino is currently employing the services of cybersecurity experts to try to get to grips with the issue.
The Anubis hacker group posted its ransom threat online on Wednesday and threatened to release the blueprints that show sensitive information like the location of chip vaults and where the surveillance cameras are located.
claims that these documents are old and relate to the casino’s previous layout plan
Catawba Nation Gaming Authority Vice President Trent Trozel claims that these documents are old and relate to the casino’s previous layout plan. The target of the attack is not the existing temporary casino, it’s the under-development permanent facility that is set to open early next year at a cost of $700m.
Trozel said that it doesn’t appear as of yet that the facility’s network, customer data, or operations are impacted by the information the cyber gang obtained.
This is not the first roadblock the tribe has faced when trying to build its new casino. Extensive legal action meant that the project announced in 2013 only got regulatory approval in 2020. Then, work soon had to be stopped as it violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, as a non-tribal corporation had management authority over the facility.
