How Hackers Swindled Vegas And walked away with one of biggest ransom payments

Their inability to rig the slot machines forced the hackers to shift gears and resort to their backup plan: steal all of the casino’s data, encrypt it, and demand a ransom payment to return it to MGM.

The ransomware attack had its desired effect: It forced several MGM-owned casinos and hotels, including the Bellagio and the Cosmopolitan, to stop using their computers entirely and instead check in hotel guests manually and provide customers with cash payouts. Caesars, which was hit by the same attackers a few weeks earlier, reportedly avoided similar disruptions by paying a $15 million ransom (half of what was apparently a $30 million ransom demand).