If you have Online Poker Accounts - YOU MUST READ THIS

[doubleup]

TK I am not interested in what player, what site etc.  All you have done is tell everyone that there are bad things out there.  

I take precautions against putting bad things on my computer, if that fails I hope that my firewall will tell me if a bad thing is trying to access the internet.  I have fairly strong passwords.  If you know about some issue that is either a specific security weakness on a site or some novel method of installing malware on a computer, please put pressure on the site to contact customers if the former is the case and provide more info if the latter applies.

[Bongo]

Firewall is useless for stopping people getting information out

[kinboshi]

Firewall is useless for stopping people getting information out

Not necessarily.  I use one that allows me to see all incoming and outgoing requests, if an application that I haven't given permission to access the internet tries to, it asks me first.  I can also block specific ports to specific applications.  It's not perfect by any means, but it's another level of security that could prevent a trojan phoning home for example.  Before you ask, no it's not ZoneAlarm.

[Bongo]

Would it stop your web browser?

[kinboshi]

Would it stop your web browser?

It stops IE.

[doubleup]

Would it stop your web browser?

If my browser had been modified in some way zone alarm would ask permission.

[tikay]

TK I am not interested in what player, what site etc.  All you have done is tell everyone that there are bad things out there.  

I take precautions against putting bad things on my computer, if that fails I hope that my firewall will tell me if a bad thing is trying to access the internet.  I have fairly strong passwords.  If you know about some issue that is either a specific security weakness on a site or some novel method of installing malware on a computer, please put pressure on the site to contact customers if the former is the case and provide more info if the latter applies.

I do NOT know of any specific issue that may have caused the problem, nor does the injured Party, or the Online Site as of yet. Investigations are continuing, sensibly, & in an amicable atmo, & I hope to be able to give all the facts in due course.  I just know that a lot of money disappeared. I can tell you of some of the precautions the injured party took, but the issue is much wider than that, it's BOTH ends that need investigation, & it's probable that both the injured party & the Online Site are 100% innocent. These are some of the precautions he took, but remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg as to the problem.

Router-based Firewall.

Software Firewall on the PC.

Two different anti-virus programmes running regular scans. They have come back "negative".

The usual Adware removal tools.

In addition, he is sufficiently computer-savvy never to be tricked into opening suspicious links or malicious files.His Passwords are not of the "ABC" nature.

The thread is intended to raise our alert level to potential security breaches on our PC's, & I believe by it's mere presence, is already doing so. The specific case does not matter - it should act as a warning to us all to, as I said in my first Post - BE CAREFUL. And take on Board good advice I expect to appear on this thread.

[AndrewT]

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?

Yeah - there is always the possibility that a new way of accessing someone's machine/network/etc is found which current security measures won't stop. Therefore the only way to ensure complete safety is to not switch the thing on.

If there is some super sneaky new way of accessing accounts then I would want to know about it, so I can prevent it happening to me, instead of a generic 'there be monsters' message.

[Bongo]

Would it stop your web browser?

If my browser had been modified in some way zone alarm would ask permission.

don't need to modify it.

Just get it to visit a url.

http://scamsite.com/index.php?username=X&password=Y

[Bongo]

Two different anti-virus programmes running regular scans. They have come back "negative".

Wouldn't help if he had 2 av programs that weren't very good though.

[AndrewT]

Would it stop your web browser?

If my browser had been modified in some way zone alarm would ask permission.

don't need to modify it.

Just get it to visit a url.

http://scamsite.com/index.php?username=X&password=Y

 

If you want to plug your online scamming site buy an advert Bongo.

[doubleup]

Would it stop your web browser?

If my browser had been modified in some way zone alarm would ask permission.

don't need to modify it.

Just get it to visit a url.

http://scamsite.com/index.php?username=X&password=Y

Why would my browser choose to access this site if I don't type in the url or get linked there from another site?

[Bongo]

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).

[tikay]

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?

Yeah - there is always the possibility that a new way of accessing someone's machine/network/etc is found which current security measures won't stop. Therefore the only way to ensure complete safety is to not switch the thing on.

If there is some super sneaky new way of accessing accounts then I would want to know about it, so I can prevent it happening to me, instead of a generic 'there be monsters' message.

Well if we find out that there is, then rest assured, it'll be posted here in a trice. If I did not make this clear initially, I apologise, but nobody knows - yet - how this came about. It can be any of a number of reasons, but we can assume....

1) The player is speaking the truth, his money has disapperared.

2) The Site is speaking the truth - they can see it's gone, but they can't establish that it was not the players fault or responsibility, or even that it was not him.

3) It's almost 100% certain that foul-play by a Third Party is responsible, but neither ther Player nor the Site can establish that beyond doubt at this stage. The Police have been made aware.

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.

Treat it as a general warning to take extra care, be especilly vigilant, & perhaps, take on board the good advice I have asked the Techie Guys to give us. Many of us take for granted the safety & security of the money we have nesting on Online Poker Rooms. This case should act as a warning.

If peeps wanna say I'm just saying there are scary monsters out there, fine, thats up to them. I'm gonna take on Board what I learn from this thread. It's up to others to either take that advice or ignore it.

[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.