If you have Online Poker Accounts - YOU MUST READ THIS

[tikay]

Elsewhere, in "The Lounge", Chris Bruce warned us of a Virus/Trojan or whatever that is compromising players Online Accouts. In his case, it was at Betfair, but it applies equally to any site I suspect.

I somehow get involved in all sorts of "behind-the-scenes" stuff & I've become aware, invovled in fact as a conduit to help solve the problem, of just such a case this week.

A very well-known Online Player - almost of legendary status - has had his Account compromised this week. He's lost over £20,000.

His Computer Software & Management is supremely good, he keeps a 6 figure sum across various sites, & has as much as half-a-mill on some sites from time to time.

He took EVERY possible precaution - but the money has disappeared.

He wants to deal with this quietly, not make a song and dance, quite properly, & get the problem resolved. I cannot - & it would serve no purpose, name him, or the Site - but I don't believe EITHER party have done anything wrong. Someone, somehow, has compromised the Account.

BE CAREFUL. Please.

The Chris Bruce thread (wholy unconnected to the case I know about) is HERE.....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28484.0

[kinboshi]

Passwords - don't make them obvious or 'guessable'.  Greg Raymer recently had someone get into his account after they 'guessed' his password.  He admitted that he should have used something less obvious and guessable.

Also, if you're using a publicly accessible machine be very careful.  I would be very reluctant to play poker on a machine that isn't mine (on my accounts that is).  Too paranoid about key-loggers that record every keystroke you make on the computer.  All too easy for someone to get your username and password via this method.

[Bongo]

We were talking about things like this the other day in a thread in internet poker.

Personally, I really doubt many people are actually secure enough to keep large sums of money in their poker accounts!

[tikay]

I would like to suggest this to the more computer savvy amongst you.

If, hypothetically, you had £100,000 in an Online Poker Account, what precautions would YOU take to safeguard it? And, one step further, if you are really computer-savvy, WOULD you leave a large sum of cash on an Online Poker Site?

OK, over to the Techie Guys - give us some guidance please.

[tikay]

We were talking about things like this the other day in a thread in internet poker.

Personally, I really doubt many people are actually secure enough to keep large sums of money in their poker accounts!

Bongo answered one of my questions BEFORE I asked it.

More detail please Bongo. Do you really mean that?

[Woodsey]

Does it make it less secure if you have your passwords automatically stored to log on when you fire up a site?

[Bongo]

I really mean it!

I have to finish off some work this afternoon, but when I'm done I'll come back to this thread and we can talk details.

[Ecosse]

I mentioned in another thread (re absolute) the best way to access online poker sites / banking etc, in fact anything sensitive is to use a virtual machine.

Basiclly, it's like a brand new computer every time you fire it up.  Remembers nothing about previous sessions, boot ups etc.

You can actually turn a physical machine into a virtual machine using software available.

With regards to passwords,these must be long using mixed case including numbers symbols etc. Brute Force / Dictionary attacks WILL compromise the majority off passwords very quickly. (new software actually allows you to use your graphics cards processors to do some of the crunching making this process even quicker)

So much more involved than what's mentioned here. It's all way too much for your average joe user


Dougie.

[Jon MW]

Does it make it less secure if you have your passwords automatically stored to log on when you fire up a site?

I would feel secure about it with regards to my PC in my house, but I think it's probably best to avoid it on a laptop.

[Ecosse]

Does it make it less secure if you have your passwords automatically stored to log on when you fire up a site?

I would feel secure about it with regards to my PC in my house, but I think it's probably best to avoid it on a laptop.

This is bad, because your password is then stored on the local PC regardless. Any malware run on your PC can find the userid / password / site.

Also means anyone with access (even at home, mates round etc), can fire up your poker client and start donking your bankroll.

Dougie.

[Bongo]

With regards to passwords,these must be long using mixed case including numbers symbols etc. Brute Force / Dictionary attacks WILL compromise the majority off passwords very quickly. (new software actually allows you to use your graphics cards processors to do some of the crunching making this process even quicker)

I'd be worried about any site that let you try the requisite number of logins to brute force a password without some form of locking/IP banning etc.

[doubleup]

Elsewhere, in "The Lounge", Chris Bruce warned us of a Virus/Trojan or whatever that is compromising players Online Accouts. In his case, it was at Betfair, but it applies equally to any site I suspect.

I somehow get involved in all sorts of "behind-the-scenes" stuff & I've become aware, invovled in fact as a conduit to help solve the problem, of just such a case this week.

A very well-known Online Player - almost of legendary status - has had his Account compromised this week. He's lost over £20,000.

His Computer Software & Management is supremely good, he keeps a 6 figure sum across various sites, & has as much as half-a-mill on some sites from time to time.

He took EVERY possible precaution - but the money has disappeared.

He wants to deal with this quietly, not make a song and dance, quite properly, & get the problem resolved. I cannot - & it would serve no purpose, name him, or the Site - but I don't believe EITHER party have done anything wrong. Someone, somehow, has compromised the Account.

BE CAREFUL. Please.

The Chris Bruce thread (wholy unconnected to the case I know about) is HERE.....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28484.0

TK - while your post is well intentioned, it is largely meaningless unless you provide some specifics.  If there is another current issue other than the Betfair trojan, then ppl should be warned.

 

[Ironside]

a few years back. before blonde i got banned from an online sites forum for questioning security, there excuse was they had the same level as security as the rest

a persons hotmail or yahoo mail email accounts are more secure than a persons onlne poker account, also if they get into you account your card details are not safe on all sites

i use neteller for the above reason and keep the lion share of my roll off sites

[tikay]

Elsewhere, in "The Lounge", Chris Bruce warned us of a Virus/Trojan or whatever that is compromising players Online Accouts. In his case, it was at Betfair, but it applies equally to any site I suspect.

I somehow get involved in all sorts of "behind-the-scenes" stuff & I've become aware, invovled in fact as a conduit to help solve the problem, of just such a case this week.

A very well-known Online Player - almost of legendary status - has had his Account compromised this week. He's lost over £20,000.

His Computer Software & Management is supremely good, he keeps a 6 figure sum across various sites, & has as much as half-a-mill on some sites from time to time.

He took EVERY possible precaution - but the money has disappeared.

He wants to deal with this quietly, not make a song and dance, quite properly, & get the problem resolved. I cannot - & it would serve no purpose, name him, or the Site - but I don't believe EITHER party have done anything wrong. Someone, somehow, has compromised the Account.

BE CAREFUL. Please.

The Chris Bruce thread (wholy unconnected to the case I know about) is HERE.....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28484.0

TK - while your post is well intentioned, it is largely meaningless unless you provide some specifics.  If there is another current issue other than the Betfair trojan, then ppl should be warned.

 

I do not believe it is meaningless.

It is genuine, & confidential, & I cannot break the speficic confidentiality.

It is a GENERIC problem, which I believe you, or anyone else, ignore at their peril.

The man in question has his own blog - a very popular & high-traffic blog, & he has no intention - until it's resolved, or turns nasty - to mention it on there, it would jeopardise his chances of a fair settlement if it gets into a public slanging match. So I can't & won't reveal the specific site or names. But this does not render it meaningless at all - it's a warning for all poker players to be careful, & it has now developed into a Thread in which Computer Savvy guys give the rest of us some expert advice. See also the Thread in "The Lounge" startred by Chris Bruce.

[byronkincaid]

tikay I think what doubleup was refering to was this

He took EVERY possible precaution - but the money has disappeared.

If he did everything the techies say to secure his money but it still went missing, then the only answer is to not play online no?