Orlando tech expert says Las Vegas level hotel hack could happen here
ORLANDO, Fla. – Danny Jenkins dropped his credit card while checking into his hotel, leaving it stuck behind the front desk.
The employee generously let the former ethics hacker behind the counter, next to her computer. Jenkins grabbed his card, but he said he could have got a lot more.
“I’m not a cyber criminal … I was able to physically touch four USB ports on that computer. If I would have plugged something in, like a rubber ducky, which is a hacking device — I could’ve gained access to their network,” Jenkins said.
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Jenkins, CEO and co-founder of ThreatLocker, an Orlando-based cyber security firm weighed in on the recent cyber attack in Las Vegas resorts and casinos. Jenkins said, this million dollar attack could easily have happened here, if it didn’t already.
The affected casinos and resorts in Sin City were not taken down from a rubber ducky, but from a “social engineering attack on an outsourced IT support vendor used by the company,” according to SEC filings from Cesars Entertainment.
Jenkins said billions of records were extracted and are being held ransom by the hackers — information such as credit card and social security numbers are at risk.
Meanwhile, Jenkins said ransomware cyber attacks happen everyday in Orlando, but it may not be known as it is not required by law for companies to disclose it when it occurs.
“Everyday hundreds of businesses in Orlando get hit by ransomware attacks, sometimes they are smaller and they pay $20,000 and sometimes they are bigger and they pay $20 million to get their data back,” Jenkins said.
Overall, when going on vacation Jenkins said to put freezes on your credit or debit cards, as this doesn’t cost anything to do.
On the other hand, for companies, he suggests reading up on the guide created by the Center for Internet Security and to make sure employees have the proper training.
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