Sault Ste. Marie Tribe Reopens Casinos After Cyberattack

It has now been nearly a month since a cyberattack affected the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan, crippling some of its systems and services. The hacker attack dates back to February 9 and the issue temporarily affected the operations of Kewadin Casinos.

The Tribe recently confirmed the phased reopening of the casinos and provided an update regarding the cyberattack, admitting it hasn’t and won’t be paying the ransom demanded by the hackers.

The Tribe Concluded There’s No Point in Paying the Ransom

As the cyberattack aftermath unfolded, the hackers turned to a local newspaper, requesting a response from the Tribe. The people behind the cybersecurity issue, whose identity remains unknown, rejected speculation that they requested $5 million ransom from the Tribe and recognized this figure as “speculative,” claiming that nobody contacted them for the ransom.

Days later, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe released a statement on Facebook, acknowledging the ongoing work with external cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies in light of the attack. The Tribe said that it collaborated with experts to determine whether or not to pay the ransom to the hacker group. In the end, the Tribe said that it has come to the conclusion that it won’t be paying the ransom. “After much deliberation, we have determined there is no point in paying their ransom demand,” reads a statement from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe.

Explaining its decision, the Tribe pointed to two main reasons, one being the fact that even if a ransom is paid, there’s no guarantee that any compromised data won’t be shared or sold on the dark web. The second reason and likely the one that mostly tipped the scales against the option to pay ransom is the fact that the Tribe was able to restore its systems and recover “virtually all” of its data. This was accomplished with the help of external cybersecurity experts, the Native American Tribe said.

Despite the temporary disruption, Kewadin Casinos reopened for visitors using a phased approach. Both Kewadin Casino – St. Ignace and Kewadin Casino – Sault Ste Marie reopened for visitors last week, while Kewadin Manistique Casino reopened this Monday.

People Whose Data Was Affected Can Use Free Credit Monitoring Services

Besides its decision regarding the ransom, the Tribe confirmed that it continues to review potentially stolen data from its systems. It vowed to offer free credit monitoring services to anyone affected by the cyberattack.

The Tribe elaborated further by explaining: “This review will take time, though, since our team must manually review hundreds of thousands of documents to determine what information may have been stolen and who that information belongs to.”

The Tribe confirmed that if it finds that a person’s information was compromised, it will notify them with a letter and explain how they can set up a free credit monitoring service. Still, the Tribe encouraged everyone to take proactive steps to protect their data.