Massive Cyberattack Temporarily Takes Down Commission Kings’ Sites

On Friday, October 16, multiple Commission Kings brands including the popular BetOnline, Sportsbetting.ag, and Wild Casino brands experienced a serious disruption of service due to a massive cyberattack. Since it was launched, the attack managed to bring the operators’ activities to a halt and this went on for about 72 hours.

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience, we hope to have the service fully restored soon. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) October 16, 2020

Needless to say, for a business that relies heavily on the online aspect of its business, the cyberattack was a devastating blow for Commission Kings. BetOnline, for instance, has been in operation for over two decades but in that period, it has never had to deal with a cyberattack that is as big as the most recent one. This unprecedented challenge is therefore bound to have some far-reaching impacts on the company’s operations going forward.

Swift Action from the Operators

BetOnline and all the other brands that were affected by the cyberattack were kind enough to keep their customers or users informed of the recovery efforts that they were pursuing. As of this writing, BetOnline has announced that it has made significant progress and it will soon resume full operations.

UPDATE: We are now LIVE with most services and expect to be 100% very soon. Thank you for your patience and we truly value your business.

— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) October 18, 2020

In the meantime, the online gambling platform has issued a statement that offers some clarification on where players can get assistance in case of any issues. Most of the feedback that the company received from the Twitter post they made on this offered a little more clarity on the extent of disruption that the cyber-attack had on the platform’s operations.

Quite a number of users reported problems with the mobile version of the site – as it turns out, this was not working on the Safari browser on iPhones and a few other browsers.  A few others also reported not being able to log in to their accounts.

All of that feedback has been very beneficial to the company as it tries to get back to full operation. Naturally, given the popularity of the online gambling brands under Commission Kings, there has been a lot of pressure from the users to have everything back up.

Also worth noting is the fact that BetOnline, and Commission Kings, by extension, confirmed that all sensitive user data has been fully protected from the attackers. Moreover, the site has also assured its users that their funds and gaming account balances are still intact.

Online Gambling and Cyber Threat

The online gambling industry has been evolving in so many different ways, something that is set to continue for the foreseeable future. Still, just like any online business, the threats to cyber-attack are increasing by the day.

That said, for all online gambling businesses, it goes beyond just mitigating against potential attacks. Operators also need to put measures in place to reduce the effects of cyber attacks and online fraud, both of which have become commonplace in the online space – iGaming operators are more often than not some of the biggest targets.

Thankfully, with the introduction of new security technologies as well as the integration of such things as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, we should see so much improvement.