If you have Online Poker Accounts - YOU MUST READ THIS

[doubleup]

Because a program running on your machine asks it too...

You don't the program itself to access the internet, you can use the users web browser. In the vast majority of cases this will be granted automatic access to the net by their firewall (if they have one).

Pretty sure zone alarm will tell me about this.  E.g. If I click on something on the Pstars client that opens a webpage I get asked even though tho Pstars client is authorised to connect directly.

[ifm]

So, we don't know HOW or WHAT happened. So it's not possible to be more specific, except to name the Player or the Site, & I don't intend to do that at this stage. Naming either would achieve nothing positive at all.

I strongly disagree, if a site has a flaw that allows this to happen then people need to know about it now.
Doesn't matter who the person is though.

[AndrewT]

I thnk some folks are missing the point here, & I am sorry if my OP did not make this clear.

There is no evidence available which suggests how the money was removed from the account. EXCEPT that the Players Account was - 100% guaranteed, we know THAT - accessed by someone else. As of yet, it's not been established "how", or who, if anyone, (meaning injured party or Online Site) was to blame, as to how that came about has not yet been established.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

Generally speaking, there are certain bottlenecks where problems occur.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.
2) The player's connection - the standard wireless security system which is used by most people (WEP) is not secure, so someone can get in that way.
3) Player's computer - anti-virus software, firewalls etc will help, but most security lapses here are self-inflicted. Don't open dodgy emails, don't access the internet without firewalls, generally be aware of what you're clicking on.
4) The player themselves - are you absolutely sure no one knows your password? Someone else in the house fancies a game? Is your password is stored on your machine? Is it guessable? Have you played poker outside of your home on a computer outside of a secure environment?

There are many places where something can go wrong.

[tikay]

So, we don't know HOW or WHAT happened. So it's not possible to be more specific, except to name the Player or the Site, & I don't intend to do that at this stage. Naming either would achieve nothing positive at all.

I strongly disagree, if a site has a flaw that allows this to happen then people need to know about it now.
Doesn't matter who the person is though.

That is the point, and is a perfect example of why I won't name the Site - you are already ASSUMING it's the Site's fault. How do you come to that conclusion? - we do not know that the Online Site has "a flaw". It may be the Player's end, for all his care & security. It would be grossly irresponsible to name the Site if there is no conclusive evidence that they are to blame, because in the nature of things, they'd be pilloried up hill & down dale be people who don't know the full facts. We see plenty of evidence of "it's ALWAYS the Site's fault" on blonde Forum.

The "hack" could have occurred at either end, or in the middle - we don't know. If I named the site - with which, by the way, I have no connection whatsoever - it would undoubetedly be blamed. That's, at best, premature.

I will not be naming the Site, or the Player, at this stage. If I see evidence one way or the other to prove negligence by either Party, I'll Post it.

It's a generic problem - PC security - & we can all choose whether to take on board the good advice I expect this thread to generate.

Security begins at home, & the first thing we should all do is ensure OUR doors are locked. In many cases - ask the Techies - I suspect they are not. It's a syndrome of modern society that when bad things happen to us, it's always someone elses fault. It's not.

Now, let's get back on topic - be careful, & take the sensible precautions the Techie-Savvy guys are dispensing. This is (or was intended to be) a "be careful, improve your security" Thread, not a witch-hunt.

[tikay]

I thnk some folks are missing the point here, & I am sorry if my OP did not make this clear.

There is no evidence available which suggests how the money was removed from the account. EXCEPT that the Players Account was - 100% guaranteed, we know THAT - accessed by someone else. As of yet, it's not been established "how", or who, if anyone, (meaning injured party or Online Site) was to blame, as to how that came about has not yet been established.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

Generally speaking, there are certain bottlenecks where problems occur.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.
2) The player's connection - the standard wireless security system which is used by most people (WEP) is not secure, so someone can get in that way.
3) Player's computer - anti-virus software, firewalls etc will help, but most security lapses here are self-inflicted. Don't open dodgy emails, don't access the internet without firewalls, generally be aware of what you're clicking on.
4) The player themselves - are you absolutely sure no one knows your password? Someone else in the house fancies a game? Is your password is stored on your machine? Is it guessable? Have you played poker outside of your home on a computer outside of a secure environment?

There are many places where something can go wrong.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

When the Player contacted the Site to make them aware that cash had gone missing - after he'd had great difficulty even accessing his Account via his Password - the Site told him "well how come you had that difficulty accessing the Site? - YOU ARE PLAYING ON IT RIGHT NOW". And they named the table, which was an ultra-high limit table. He, of course, denies this, & I believe him.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.

It was a highly-reputable site, a "Major", & they have no history of poor security.

[ifm]

I never assumed it was the sites fault, you yourself have said that the site may be at fault.
I understand why you won't name the site and that's fair enough but what if it is their end and overnight  someone else or multiple people lose money the same way?

[Tractor]

No trying to go off topic but it sounds as if someone got his password by whatever means and has donked off the money.
Maybe dumping it to a friend or maybe not.
Returning back to the security issue - Keep your password as safe as possible.
It may well be someone he knows, it maybe someone has guessed it, it could be a key logger.
The site must be able to get the ip of the user logged on and get some more info from that and also the hand histories will tell a story.

[LLevan]

I thnk some folks are missing the point here, & I am sorry if my OP did not make this clear.

There is no evidence available which suggests how the money was removed from the account. EXCEPT that the Players Account was - 100% guaranteed, we know THAT - accessed by someone else. As of yet, it's not been established "how", or who, if anyone, (meaning injured party or Online Site) was to blame, as to how that came about has not yet been established.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

Generally speaking, there are certain bottlenecks where problems occur.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.
2) The player's connection - the standard wireless security system which is used by most people (WEP) is not secure, so someone can get in that way.
3) Player's computer - anti-virus software, firewalls etc will help, but most security lapses here are self-inflicted. Don't open dodgy emails, don't access the internet without firewalls, generally be aware of what you're clicking on.
4) The player themselves - are you absolutely sure no one knows your password? Someone else in the house fancies a game? Is your password is stored on your machine? Is it guessable? Have you played poker outside of your home on a computer outside of a secure environment?

There are many places where something can go wrong.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

When the Player contacted the Site to make them aware that cash had gone missing - after he'd had great difficulty even accessing his Account via his Password - the Site told him "well how come you had that difficulty accessing the Site? - YOU ARE PLAYING ON IT RIGHT NOW". And they named the table, which was an ultra-high limit table. He, of course, denies this, & I believe him.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.

It was a highly-reputable site, a "Major", & they have no history of poor security.

Surely if someone was actually playing his account the site could determine through the IP address his location and I would hope the site immediately froze his account and if he was chip dumping I would expect the site to freeze the accounts of those to whom he was chip dumping.

[tikay]

I thnk some folks are missing the point here, & I am sorry if my OP did not make this clear.

There is no evidence available which suggests how the money was removed from the account. EXCEPT that the Players Account was - 100% guaranteed, we know THAT - accessed by someone else. As of yet, it's not been established "how", or who, if anyone, (meaning injured party or Online Site) was to blame, as to how that came about has not yet been established.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

Generally speaking, there are certain bottlenecks where problems occur.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.
2) The player's connection - the standard wireless security system which is used by most people (WEP) is not secure, so someone can get in that way.
3) Player's computer - anti-virus software, firewalls etc will help, but most security lapses here are self-inflicted. Don't open dodgy emails, don't access the internet without firewalls, generally be aware of what you're clicking on.
4) The player themselves - are you absolutely sure no one knows your password? Someone else in the house fancies a game? Is your password is stored on your machine? Is it guessable? Have you played poker outside of your home on a computer outside of a secure environment?

There are many places where something can go wrong.

So we don't even know if the source of the security leak is technological or human. In my experience, when a player contacts a site where they (genuinely) believe money has gone missing, most of the time their account has been accessed by someone known to them though the player not being careful enough about their password. Not saying this necessarily applies in this case, just stating something I've seen personally in the past in similar cases.

When the Player contacted the Site to make them aware that cash had gone missing - after he'd had great difficulty even accessing his Account via his Password - the Site told him "well how come you had that difficulty accessing the Site? - YOU ARE PLAYING ON IT RIGHT NOW". And they named the table, which was an ultra-high limit table. He, of course, denies this, & I believe him.

1) The poker site itself - not much the user can do about this except stay away from known problematic sites.

It was a highly-reputable site, a "Major", & they have no history of poor security.

Surely if someone was actually playing his account the site could determine through the IP address his location and I would hope the site immediately froze his account and if he was chip dumping I would expect the site to freeze the accounts of those to whom he was chip dumping.

Correct - the site froze the Account there & then, took the obvious steps,. & investigations are continuing.

[Junior Senior]

was it Mark Teltcher? - maybe his sister borowed his account again but didn't own up this time :-)

[LLevan]

Sounds like a stolen password, but as to how this happened is anyones guess. As Tikay says we all need to be vigilant and possibly shouldnt leave large amounts either in online wallets or poker sites and continually deposit and withdraw funds as and when we want to play online.

[The_duke]

In no way do I have that serious amount of money in on-line accounts, but the amount is relative to the stakes that are played I suppose. My rule is never to leave more money on any site than I would normaly play with on a daily basis. If I win over that amount I remove it to a specific poker bank account (now you have me worried about that). I know it can be a pain, but if you have to reload it only takes a few seconds. I am paranoid about my money in the bank let alone on a poker site. 

[tikay]

In no way do I have that serious amount of money in on-line accounts, but the amount is relative to the stakes that are played I suppose. My rule is never to leave more money on any site than I would normaly play with on a daily basis. If I win over that amount I remove it to a specific poker bank account (now you have me worried about that). I know it can be a pain, but if you have to reload it only takes a few seconds. I am paranoid about my money in the bank let alone on a poker site. 

Nothing paranoid about that - it's just common-sense. Were that we were all as sensible, but let's hope a few more of us will take heed now.

[thediceman]

Surely if someone was actually playing his account the site could determine through the IP address his location and I would hope the site immediately froze his account and if he was chip dumping I would expect the site to freeze the accounts of those to whom he was chip dumping.

Yeah but it still takes the online site months to check into this. Well that was my experience and only when shamed into action did they act. Amazingly after months of no action, and that includes the lame police who were useless I got a response of the ISP shows some guy in China had hacked into my account. I can ensure everybody I do not know anybody in China or make my magic password known to anybody in China, honest.

Seems all very well giving a warning of this issue but if Mr Online Poker Pro has done everything he can do to protect his huge bankroll then god help us little guys. Guess the only options are to quit online play or withdrawal after every session.

[neeko]

the site - with which, by the way,  I have no connection whatsoever -

I am shocked by this comment - I though you had "connections" & a Tikay Tourney on every poker site in the English speaking world.  

I guess this Mateyboy must be Mongolian or something.