Operator News
France – Vikings Casino group forced to shut down its casinos due to cyber attack
By Phil - 2 May 2023
The Vikings Casinos group, the victim of a cyber attack since April 19, was able to reopen seven of its eleven casinos on April 27.
According to Director General of the group, Luc Le Borgne, the casino group is unable to operate at full capacity. An 8th establishment will also resume service on April 28, at 80 per cent of its capacity. The reopening of the last three casino remains uncertain, Vikings Casinos hoping that it will take place in the coming days or at the latest during the week of May 9 to 12.
This attack was detected on April 19 by its IT services using their supervision consoles. In order to protect the data, the information system (computer network and applications) was then shut down. Investigations are still underway to determine the impact of the attack, but at this stage no data theft has been identified by the investigations. The group filed a complaint with the authorities and made prior notifications to the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) and the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL).
The computer problem made it impossible to check the identity of players at the entrance to the casinos, as well as the payment of any winnings. The restaurants were also affected and all those located in the gaming rooms had also been closed. The others remained open, but only accepted payments by check and cash, the bank card terminals being out of service.
The operator said: “While a crisis meeting was held on April 25 to take stock of the situation, Vikings Casinos, with the help of its partners and expert cybersecurity service providers, is doing everything possible to ensure a return to normal as soon as possible.”
