Las Vegas Sands: Some customer data was stolen in hacking

By Hannah Dreier, Associated Press

Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 | 2:37 p.m.

Computer hackers stole some Las Vegas Sands customers' Social Security and driver's license numbers during a data breach earlier this month, the casino company said Friday.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. said in a statement that the information about some patrons at its Bethlehem, Pa., hotel-casino was compromised during the Feb. 10 attack. It was unclear whether credit card information was also taken.

Sands said it was still working to determine whether customer information from other properties was breached. The company runs the Italian-themed Venetian and Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip, and several hotel-casinos in China and Singapore.

In its statement, Sands noted that the number of patron accounts that were compromised make up less than 1 percent of all visitors to the Bethlehem casino since its 2009 opening. The company did not provide the number of patron accounts at risk.

Sands said it is notifying customers affected by the hacking and providing them with credit monitoring and identity theft protection. It has set up a toll-free number for customers to call with questions.

The company added that a mailing database similar to something a direct marketing firm would use was also stolen.

The Las Vegas-based company pulled down its corporate and individual hotel websites Feb. 11 after hackers defaced them with images condemning comments Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson had made about using nuclear weapons on Iran. The hackers also posted Social Security numbers for Sands' Bethlehem employees.

It took the company nearly a week to get the sites back up. The hacking also knocked down internal systems, and left corporate employees without access to their computers and email accounts for days.

Last week, an anonymous video surfaced that appeared to catalog additional information stolen during the hacking, including administrator passwords for slot machine systems and player information at the Bethlehem casino.

The FBI and Secret Service have been investigating the cyberattack.

Sands, which is the world's largest casino company in terms of revenue and market value, also owns the world's largest casino in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. The company's net income was $2.31 billion last year.

In an annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Sands said the attack may have destroyed some company data. The filing said Sands was unable to estimate the loss that might result from the hacking, if any.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands rose 12 cents to close at $85.25 Friday before the announcement, then fell 19 cents in after-hours trading.