No Cards, No ATMs: A Cyber Incident Sends Turning Stone’s Casinos and Stores in Central New York to Cash Only
Turning Stone Enterprises shut down some systems after a cybersecurity incident hit its network and communications on Monday, leaving its casinos, a resort and convenience stores open on Tuesday but cash only. What guests are dealing with, what the company has said, and the continuity lesson for every business.
A major Central New York casino resort was open for business on Tuesday but could not take a single credit card. Turning Stone Enterprises, the business arm of the Oneida Indian Nation, says a cybersecurity incident hit its network and communications systems on Monday morning and that it shut down certain systems as a precaution.
This briefing is based on CNY Central’s report, which published the company’s statement, and WKTV’s coverage from Verona.
What guests are facing
For Tuesday, November 3, the company listed these limits at Turning Stone Resort Casino, Point Place Casino, YBR Casino and Sports Book, The Lake House and its Maple Leaf Markets/SavOn convenience stores:
- Cash only, with no credit cards accepted.
- ATMs kept offline, so guests need to arrive with cash.
- TS Rewards benefits unavailable.
- Bingo and the TS Sports sports books closed for the day.
What the company has said
Turning Stone Enterprises says it is working with outside cybersecurity experts to determine the nature and scope of the incident and, so far, is not aware of any confidential information being accessed. It plans to send daily emails and post an update every evening on service availability until the problem is fully resolved, and it is pointing guests to its website and Facebook page.
What we do not know yet
The company has not said what kind of incident this is, how attackers got in, or when card payments and the other services will return. Those are the questions to watch in the coming updates.
What this means for your company
Look at what kept Turning Stone running: it could still open its doors and take cash because it had a fallback, and it chose to shut systems down early rather than risk guest data. Every business should know its own version of that plan. Which systems would you switch off first? Can you still take payments, answer phones and serve customers by hand for a day or a week? Who tells customers what is happening, and through which channel if email is down? Write the answers down, test them once a year, and make sure your backups and your incident response contacts are lined up before you need them.
Could your business keep serving customers if your network had to be shut down tomorrow morning? Reach out to Layer 7 Data Solutions to discuss how we’ve helped companies similar to yours.
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