John Branden Newman, the Chief Technology Officer at MGM Resorts International, informed Nevada regulators that federal authorities continue to investigate a cyberattack that occurred in 2023, with a teenager now facing charges related to the breach.

Newman, who was approved as a corporate officer by the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday, revealed that the accused individual, aged 17, was only 15 at the time of the attack. The charges include three counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information, one count of extortion, one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, and one count of illegal activities associated with computers. Prosecutors are seeking to charge him as an adult.

“This has been a challenging period for us as we dealt with the incident and worked to restore our systems,” Newman remarked. “We have implemented a range of security measures to mitigate future risks, simultaneously monitoring threat intelligence throughout the industry and staying updated on the various threat actors targeting our sector. Our collaboration with the FBI is ongoing.”

Collaboration with Boyd Gaming

Newman mentioned that he reached out to Boyd Gaming Corp. following a cyber incident that was reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this week.

“It’s truly unfortunate that so many players across various industries are still being targeted by similar attacks,” he remarked to the commissioners. “We reached out to offer our support. However, I lack detailed information on the incident. Our current Chief Information Security Officer conducted the coordination with Boyd during that timeframe.”

Newman supervises a technical team comprising 653 staff members, with 376 located in Nevada. Prior to his role as CTO at MGM, he served as the company’s chief information security officer during the 2023 incident and has previous IT experience with the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, and various roles in the private sector.

Young Offenders in Cybercrime

Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Togliatti remarked on the challenges posed by cybercriminals who are minors.

“To keep pace with these changes, it is essential to engage with all the high schools and similar avenues,” Togliatti stated. “The age of those being charged with these alleged acts is astounding. It’s perplexing.”

Newman elaborated that younger offenders are frequently manipulated by organized crime syndicates.

“It’s disheartening,” he commented. “These groups exploit young individuals to create a buffer from law enforcement because these youths are usually just the last link in the chain, not the masterminds of the operations. We are committed to working diligently to identify the true orchestrators behind these attacks and have allocated resources from our team to assist the FBI in this effort.”