Ontario’s Casino Rama victim of cyberattack affecting customer, employee and vendor information

A casino in Ontario announced on Thursday that it “recently became aware that it has been the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of (past and present) customer, employee and vendor information.”

Casino Rama reports that the hacker claims that the employee information stolen dates from 2004 to 2016. Photo credit: Casino Rama Instagram.

Casino Rama Resort in the First Nation community of Rama said in a press release that it first became aware of the situation on Nov. 4 and internal teams have been working with cybersecurity experts “around the clock… to neutralize the issue and provide further safeguards to our systems.”

“The hacker claims to have accessed information that includes Casino Rama Resort IT information, financial reports regarding the hotel and casino, security incident reports, Casino Rama Resort email, patron credit inquiries, collection and debt information, vendor information and contracts and employee information including performance reviews, payroll data, terminations, social insurance numbers and dates of birth,” the release said. “The hacker claims that the employee information dates from 2004 to 2016, and that some of the other categories of information taken date back to 2007.”

The casino added that there is “no indication” that the hacker continues to have access to the casino’s system, but “it is possible, however, that the hacker will publish information that was stolen previously.” The cyberattack did not affect games on the casino floor, the release added.

As a precaution, Casino Rama has advised customers, employees and vendors to monitor and verify all bank accounts, credit card and other financial transaction statements and report any suspicious activity to the appropriate financial institution.

The casino is working with the Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and have alerted the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.