Cybersecurity Awareness Month highlights risk of online sports betting

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Now that online sports betting is legal in Kentucky, it means more people could be exposing their private data to thieves online.

Cybersecurity experts say it’s important to protect your information on the web.

“Whether it’s DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, or the host of other ones out there... they’re going to start mimicking things,” said Alex Risen with PhishingBox. “We’ve already seen that. You just have to be aware that promotional offer that you saw on TV just because it’s in your inbox. Check the domain. Just check to see where it’s coming from. Or better yet, download the app direct and go yourself.”

In the last few months, both MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment say they’ve been the victims of cyberattacks.

It’s unclear how many individuals have been affected by the data breach.

However, a recent report indicates that BetMGM customers who signed up in the last four years may have lucked out and not seen their information compromised.

“Any opportunity that is given to cybercriminals to take advantage of consumers or businesses, they’re going to take that opportunity,” said Risen.

The FBI estimates more than $12 billion have been lost to phishing scams in just the last five years.

An estimated 97 percent of people can’t correctly identify a phishing e-mail.

At a conference last week, the CEO of Churchill Downs Inc. told media outlets that they started seeing attacks on their online business a few years ago.

However, the gaming industry as a whole is dealing with “increasingly effective” social engineering attempts.

That’s where hackers try to gain access to systems through human error.