A class-action lawsuit is being proposed, following a cyberattack at Casino Rama.
On Friday, Charney Lawyers proposed a lawsuit that would seek $50 million in damages from Casino Rama.
"The class action will be commenced on behalf of employees, customers and vendors of the Casino Rama Resort whose confidential information was compromised by the privacy breach," the lawyers said.
The statement of claim would be filed in Superior Court on Monday given the Remembrance Day holiday on Friday, said Ted Charney, one of the lawyers involved.
On Thursday, Casino Rama warned its customers, vendors as well as current and former staff to keep an eye on their bank accounts, credit cards and other financial information.
The casino said it had "recently" discovered becoming the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the large-scale data theft.
"The hacker claims that the employee information dates from 2004 to 2016, and that some of the other categories of information taken date back to 2007," the casino said in a statement on its website. "We can confirm that certain employee and customer information was stolen."
The statement also warned that the hacker could publish the stolen data.
Experts say the scope of the theft could be staggering.
"A place like Rama, given the nature of the business, people are registering as players and there's a lot of banking information with that, so it would be a fairly rich target for somebody," says CTV News Public Safety Analyst Chris Lewis.
Cyber security experts say sophisticated attacks like this are becoming more prevalent and while casino officials believe the hackers no longer have access to the system, experts say finding them may prove impossible.
“We know most these hackers are backed by organize crime and they sell this data,” says Wael Lahoud, cyber security expert. “They know how to hide their tracks, wipe out their logs, all their traffic."
Casino officials tell CTV News they’re working closely with authorities on the investigation and they deeply regret the situation.
Investigators aren’t saying if any progress is being made in finding out how many people were affected or what happened to the stolen data.
With files from The Canadian Press.
