Slot machines, phone lines still down at Minnesota casino after cybersecurity incident

A Minnesota tribal casino’s slot machines, phone lines and other services remain shut down as of Wednesday after a reported cyber attack last week.

A notice on the Jackpot Junction Casino and Hotel’s website states as of Wednesday that slot machines and kiosks remain unavailable, with bingo also canceled and its Dacotah Dining restaurant closed until further notice.

The casino adds that a special bingo session is postponed until a later date, as is its Continuity rewards program. However, Jackpot Junction says table games and the circle bar are open.

The casino sits in the Lower Sioux Indian Community, east of Redwood Falls.

Robert “Deuce” Larsen, the president of the Lower Sioux Indian Community Council, said in a Facebook post on Sunday night that the casino was made aware of a “cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain systems.”

“We immediately activated our incident response protocols and took measures to contain the incident, including taking some systems offline,” Larsen said.

The systems have remained offline ever since as the casino is working with “third-party experts” to address the issue.

The casino first reported issues with its phone lines being down on March 27 that followed with further disruptions to its slot machines, bingo, continuity programs, promotional drawings and one of its restaurants. The Lower Sioux Government Center said on March 28 that its phone lines were also down.

Hotel room booking also isn’t available as of Wednesday via the casino’s website.

Paul Bischoff, a consumer privacy advocate at Comparitech, claims in a blog post that a ransomware criminal enterprise called RansomHub has claimed responsibility for the cyber attack.

Jackpot Junction has not acknowledged this group in any public statements. Bring Me The News reached out to the casino for more details but has not heard back.