A tale of 2 casino ransomware attacks: One paid out, one did not

Two Las Vegas casino owners — Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts — were compromised by a cybercrime group (Scattered Spider) that used social-engineering/phishing against IT support, deployed ransomware, and exfiltrated customer data; Caesars reportedly negotiated and paid a multi-million dollar ransom and recovered more quickly, while MGM did not pay, suffered about $100M in losses and week-long outages, and had stolen data later leaked. The report examines factors influencing ransom payment decisions, legal/sanctions implications, and the need to disrupt the ransomware ecosystem.