July 2023 the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was breached which resulted in the company losing around $100 million. The shutdown had severe impacts such as some guests were unable to use their key cards, and employees were also locked out of their corporate email for days. Even more severe though was the amount of guest data that was stolen. MGM states that along with this massive loss, they report to spend at least $10 million in one-time expenses related to this attack, mostly on technology consulting services, legal fees, and expenses to 3rd party advisors.

According to Ponemon and IBM Security’s 2022 global case study report revealed that $2.94 million was the average total cost per incident in the hospitality industry from 2021-2022. The associated costs from a breach come from several sources including lost business, reputational damage, legal costs, forensic activities, crisis management, regulatory response, and customer notification.

EXCLUSIVE FOR BCHA MEMBERS – Get your complimentary Hotel Cyber Security Checkup (value $1800). Contact Christina Ferris at christina.ferris@itpartners.ca, or call 604-428-8449 x 103.