Ho-Chunk say they’ve engaged security experts to probe Dells casino computer system failure | Local News


The Ho-Chunk Nation said Thursday that it has engaged cyber security experts to investigate an “incident” that affected the tribe’s computer systems last month, leading to a four-day shutdown of its Wisconsin Dells casino.

Still unclear is whether the incident constituted a hack and whether any customers of the tribe’s Dells casino and other businesses had their personal data exposed.

Ho-Chunk Gaming in Wisconsin Dells reopened at 1 p.m. Aug. 30 after announcing the “major computer systems failure” on its Facebook page the morning of Aug. 26. While the property’s hotel and RV park remained open, all gaming, ATM service, restaurants and other amenities were completely or partially shut down.

The tribe said nothing else about the incident until Thursday afternoon, when it released a statement saying cybersecurity experts had been hired and that “to date, the investigation found no evidence that any tribal member’s personal information is at risk because of this incident.”

“No one specific individual was targeted, and our investigation found no evidence that personal or tribal information was taken by an unauthorized person,” the statement said.

Tribe spokesperson Ken Luchterhand said he didn’t know whether the systems failure was the result of a hacking or whether the personal information of gamblers or other of the tribe’s customers might have been exposed. He referred questions from the Wisconsin State Journal to the tribe’s attorney general, Scott Seifert, whose office referred the newspaper back to Luchterhand, who had not returned another call for comment.

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