5 ways tribal casinos can plan for continuity after a cyberattack
Most tribal casinos are well-versed in the challenges posed by cyberattacks in the realm of network gaming and gaming security. As key components of tribal governments, these enterprises have robust cybersecurity programs in place to help prevent and respond to the issues they face on a regular basis. However, as cyberattacks continue to grow more sophisticated, it’s crucial to ensure that your business continuity plan prepares you for the worst-case scenarios, especially considering the increasing importance of cyber tribal security measures and the cybersecurity grant program for tribal organizations.
Recent attacks demonstrate the potential consequences when an organization faces a severe threat: One business was left without access to its major information systems, affecting everything from hotel check-ins to elevator operations. This highlights the critical need for comprehensive security measures and tribal IT infrastructure protection, including robust network server security and intrusion detection systems.
To keep your tribal gaming enterprise safe, you need a continuity plan that can match changes in the cybersecurity landscape. Here are five ways you can upgrade your plan and stay prepared:
1. Understand the elevated risks
When dealing with a major cyberattack, standard resiliency measures may not be sufficient to protect your casino’s critical infrastructure. Cyberattacks — including phishing attacks, ransomware attacks and DDoS attacks — are increasingly targeting and compromising backup data repositories. Typically, businesses can rely on backup systems in a secondary data center being available if their primary systems go offline. But a sophisticated cyberattack can compromise your ability to pivot efficiently.
Cyberattacks can also significantly lengthen your recovery timeline. Traditional disaster recovery plans will have outlined recovery objectives and capabilities, such as the number of hours it may take to switch from a primary data center to a secondary one. However, cyberattacks can extend that timeline well beyond the anticipated recovery goals. Regular risk assessments, vulnerability assessments, and efficient patch management can help mitigate these risks and address security vulnerabilities in your gaming networks.
2. Prepare your manual procedures
Since cyberattacks can have an unpredictable impact on your information systems, it’s important to prepare effective manual procedures as part of your data protection strategies for tribal organizations. This includes implementing robust customer data protection measures and ensuring the security of financial transactions.
Casinos operate systems for everything from hospitality to server-based gaming. If you lose access, you need to consider how that will impact end users within your organization and your customers. For example, if you operate a hotel and casino, how are staff going to handle reservations and room keys? Or how will your front-office employees navigate losing access to key data, such as player information and comps for customers?
You also need to ensure that whatever measures you plan are sustainable for an extended recovery period. This includes having robust access controls, multifactor authentication, and data backup procedures in place to prevent unauthorized access.
3. Understand your priorities
If multiple systems shut down, what are your recovery priorities?
From both a systems and management perspective, leadership should identify the critical steps they need to take in the first hours or days of an event. Consider what systems or servers your IT department will need running first to make for a smoother recovery. You should also look at issues such as what customer concerns need to be addressed to help maintain a positive experience.
Proper planning, including incident response planning for tribal governments and effective incident detection mechanisms, can make your initial response less chaotic and more effective. It’s also crucial to be aware of potential insider threats and have strategies in place to mitigate them, including robust network configuration and security incident response protocols.
4. Keep your plan updated
Having a business continuity plan for tribal governments in place is only one part of staying prepared. Once formalized, plans need to be updated and reviewed at least once a year. It’s also important to continually validate your readiness through options such as tabletop exercises and regular security audits to identify and address network vulnerabilities.
Consider using a cybersecurity plan template or a cybersecurity program template to ensure all aspects are covered. These templates can help structure your cybersecurity capabilities and improve overall cybersecurity readiness.
Tabletop exercises are a discussion-based walkthrough of the events you may encounter in a hypothetical disruption scenario. Participants may include senior management, department leaders, the IT team, and other stakeholders.
During the discussion, the group walks through a series of events and examines the types of decisions and actions that would be needed in response to a specific event. It provides a positive team-building experience while helping you determine whether your organization’s response is comprehensive, and your team is prepared. These exercises should also include scenarios related to network security and encryption practices.
5. Get leadership on board
Most tribal casinos already take cybersecurity risks seriously, but they may not always have those concerns represented at the leadership level. Effective cyber governance is crucial for maintaining a strong security posture while respecting tribal sovereignty.
In your organization, it’s important to have someone in a board or executive position who can take accountability for your cybersecurity incident response plan. Positions such as a chief information security officer or chief information officer can help provide proper oversight while also monitoring and reporting risks.
Across your organization, leadership also needs to have a solid understanding of the response process, including their roles and responsibilities, the communication plan, and what they should expect from each department. Having that accountability and oversight helps ensure that when your organization does need to use your plan, it can be implemented effectively. Additionally, implementing regular cybersecurity awareness training for tribal staff and enforcing strict security policies can significantly enhance your organization’s overall security posture and risk management strategies.
How Wipfli can help
Wipfli brings decades of experience in serving tribal entities to help your gaming enterprise stay resilient. We provide the guidance your business needs to understand the latest technology and how it can impact your organization while also helping you maintain regulatory compliance. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help empower your tribe to face tomorrow’s challenges in network gaming and Indian security.
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