Las Vegas Sands hackers have not stolen credit cards

Regulators' first priority after the world's largest casino operator was hacked on Monday has been to ensure the safety of player information and the integrity of the gambling systems.

Sands spokesman Ron Reese declined to discuss whether credit card information was breached in the hacking, and instead pointed to a statement the company made on Wednesday saying it was working through a step-by-step process to ascertain what systems had been impacted.

The damage the hacking has done goes beyond the defaced websites, which Sands took down on Tuesday morning. Company employees remain unable to log into their work computers.

Gaming regulators are now working to ensure Sands have done everything possible to protect employee information. The hackers, whose identities remain unknown, posted Social Security numbers on the Sands sites. The information belonged to employees of Sands' Bethlehem, Pa. casino. Sands employs about 5,000 people around the world.

Last December, Las Vegas-based casino operator Affinity Gaming announced that its credit-card transactions had been hacked and warned its 300,000 customers to take steps to protect themselves from identity theft. "The Affinity case looks a lot different," Burnett said. "That's more akin to what happened with Target. But that's not what happened at Sands according to our information."

Burnett said that the Nevada regulator is checking that LVS did everything possible to protect employee information. The hackers, whose identities remain unknown, posted the social security numbers of employees on the Sands sites. It is understood that the FBI is monitoring the situation closely.