FBI Confirms Probe of Sands Website Hackings: Credit Card Breach a Concern

Day 3 of the Las Vegas Sands casino websites remaining down following a corporate-wide hacking and it was still unclear as to whether customer credit card information could have been compromised.

At the time of the hacking, employee social security numbers were seen scrolling across the breached website.

"While we have been able to confirm that certain core operating systems were not impacted by the hacking, the company remains focused on working through a step-by-step process to ascertain what, if any, additional systems may have been impacted," Sands spokesperson Ron Reese said in a statement.

In addition to the websites, the Las Vegas Sands email system also appeared to be compromised.

Prior to the websites being taken down, the Allentown, PA Morning Call newspaper published screenshots of the respective sites immediately after they had been hacked.  The screenshot included a picture of Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, a major GOP donor, posing with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a message condemning the use of weapons of mass destruction.  Adelson had previously suggested that Israel should drop an atomic bomb on Iran in order to deter that nation from pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

Adelson has also made enemies in the online gambling world as he threatened to spend millions to quash the expansion of legalized real money Web gambling in the US.  His anti-Internet gambling coalition had released a new advertisement citing online gambling as a threat to US national security just hours prior to Tuesday’s hacking, raising some speculation that the whole Iranian angle could be some sort of ruse.

The FBI and Secret Service confirmed an investigation into Tuesday’s hacking, which brought the powerful casino enterprise to its knees. 

A spokeswoman for the FBI told Bloomberg News the agency was aware of the situation and was  “addressing it as appropriate.”

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com