MGM Resorts hackers broke in after tricking IT service desk

A former MGM employee who was familiar with the company’s cybersecurity policies pointed to the help desk as vulnerable to attack. — AP

The online attack that disrupted MGM Resorts International resorts and casinos across the country began with a social engineering breach of the company’s information technology help desk, according to a cybersecurity executive familiar with the investigation.

David Bradbury, chief security officer at the identity and access management company Okta, said his company issued a threat advisory in August about similar attacks against some of its customers, in which hackers used a low-tech social engineering tactics to gain entry and then more advanced methods that allow them to impersonate users on the networks.