An investigation by the Russian-linked ransomware group Qilin has raised fresh concerns within the global gaming and gambling industry after they claimed responsibility for the cyber intrusion that targeted global gambling giant IGT in recent weeks. 

A dark-web leak site that listed the company on Wednesday stated that it had exfiltrated ten gigabytes of data, or more than two thousand files, which is an amount that would equal around ten gigabytes of internal data. The posting itself didn’t provide many details about this. 

As can be seen by the entry stamped in bright green with the word “Publicated”, IGT does not appear to have communicated with Qilin or they refuse to accept ransom demands from him. IGT offers a complete suite of products and services to casinos, retailers, and online operators worldwide that range from gaming machines to lottery technology to PlaySports betting platforms to iGaming systems. 

Through its suite of products, IGT supports millions of players every day. This recent breach has prompted increased scrutiny of a leading technology provider’s security posture, and raised questions about the potential impact on operations and the broader gaming infrastructure of this company. According to a recent filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, International Game Technology (IGT) has acknowledge that it is in the middle of managing a major cyber incident. 

In the filing, IGT confirmed an unauthorized attempt to access portions of its internal IT system on November 17 was detected. There is a note in the disclosure that indicates that the company's incident response procedures were immediately activated after the intrusion. 

These procedures included a number of steps commonly associated with attempts to contain suspected ransomware activities, including taking certain systems offline and engaging external forensic specialists to assist in the investigation. 

In the midst of it assessing the extent of the disruption, the notorious ransomware group Qilin also has mentioned IGT, claiming that around 10GB of data, or over 21,000 files, has been stolen from its dark-web leak portal. Despite the fact that Qilin has not yet provided proof of compromise samples, the group has labeled the archive as published, a term criminals frequently use to indicate that exfiltrated data is now circulating beyond the victim's control. This adds further urgency to IGT's efforts to contain and remediate the data in question.

A report from Cybernews claims that Qilin's leak page also offers a link to an FTP file believed to contain a complete cache of allegedly stolen information, but no verification has been made and the amount of information available is limited at this point. To date, IGT has not either confirmed or denied the gang's assertions and has not responded to media inquiries seeking clarification. 

As one of the world's biggest gaming companies, GTECH offers a range of lottery technology products across more than 100 jurisdictions, including electronic gaming machines, iLottery systems, and sports betting platforms. Its headquarters are in London, with major operations centers in Las Vegas, Rome, and Providence. IGT is the primary technology partner for 26 U.S. lotteries and casinos, serving dozens of lottery operators and casino operators across the country. 

The entire lottery industry has been facing increasing cyber threats; earlier this year, the Ohio Lottery suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted jackpot information, delayed prize claim processing, and exposed sensitive consumer and retailer information. 

With such a backdrop in mind, IGT’s statement to the SEC underscored the company’s commitment to minimizing operational disruptions while restoring systems and maintaining transparency with its customers. In order to ensure service stability while forensic specialists continue their assessment, the company has deployed contingency solutions under its business continuity framework. 

It is vital that IGT maintains trust among lottery operators, casino customers and millions of daily users as it navigates the aftermath of the breach. IGT continues to work to secure that trust as the recovery proceeds. In light of the ongoing investigation, this incident underscores the widening threat landscape that operators of high-value digital games and lotteries face.

In order to achieve the best results for IGT, it is imperative that they reinforce cyber-resilience, accelerate security modernization, and strengthen partnerships with regulators and industry partners. It is widely believed that maintaining transparency, rapid threat intelligence sharing, and investing in robust incident response capabilities will be crucial not only for restoring confidence, but also for safeguarding interconnected gaming ecosystems from increasingly sophisticated ransomware actors who are eager to exploit any vulnerabilities that may arise.