Police arrest a teenage boy in connection with the MGM Resorts ransomware attack

A teenage boy could also be chargeable for a ransomware assault that in Las Vegas final yr. in England confirmed that they arrested an unidentified 17-year-old on Thursday from the city of Walsall who allegedly shut down the resort and on line casino on the Las Vegas strip final yr.

{The teenager} was arrested on suspicion of blackmail and violating the UK’s Laptop Misuse Act. He was launched on bail, in response to a press release from the police division.

Police officers tracked the teenage suspect as a part of a joint investigation with the UK’s Nationwide Crime Company and the FBI. The police division mentioned they recovered proof on the teenager’s deal with together with “a variety of digital gadgets which can endure forensic examination.”

The assertion additionally mentioned {the teenager} was a part of a “international cyber on-line crime group” however didn’t specify which group. The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group introduced their duty for the . The assault occurred on Sep. 12, 2023 allegedly with a easy 10 minute cellphone name to a Assist desk worker utilizing info obtained from LinkedIn. The group has additionally claimed duty for the same ransomware assault on the wonder model .

“All ALPHV ransomware group did to compromise MGM Resorts was hop on LinkedIn, discover an worker, then name the Assist Desk,” the group wrote in a submit on X.

MGM Resorts’ system shutdown lasted for and created an enormous outage throughout all of its casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Information later surfaced that different casinos like Caesars had been additionally focused by a unique group however selected to pay the hackers tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to forestall non-public firm knowledge from being launched.