Online Poker Hacked By Employees
Online Poker Hacked By Employees Pay
Several high-stakes poker players took to Twitter over the last couple days reporting that some of their accounts had been hacked. Vanessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso, Cate Hall, and Dan Smith were some of the victims, with hackers gaining access to accounts ranging from cell phones to Twitter accounts.
Dan Smith was one of the first to bring the issue to light, and Tweeted his plight with a bit of humor reflecting his recent run at the PokerStars SCOOP.
Some accounts got hacked last night, don't western union money please.
Online Poker rooms forbid players to open more than one real money account per person at their poker site. However, there was a huge scandal in 2007 at the poker room “Absolute Poker”: An employee was in possession of a “super-user account”. He was able to see the hole cards of all opponents at the table. Win your spurs as you play poker against the western pro’s to get a hold of Texas. Play Governor of Poker 2 online for free. Check out this PACK DEAL of GoP 1 And 2!
- We are about to release an online poker cheating system. This is hardware based and not a poker bot or software. CBS 60 Minutes aired a story on the Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker cheating scandal involving collusion and software to see hole cards. This involved internet poker cheating.
- Apr 06, 2014 If you've spent any time in online poker rooms, you've likely heard about a couple of high-profile attacks targeting players. 'With cybercrime on the rise, it is only a matter of time before.
According to poker pro Doug Polk, who released a YouTube video breaking down the situation, some victims have had hackers call their cell phone service providers posing as the account owner and getting the victims' service switched to a new phone – creating some unique opportunities to gain access to accounts.
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'Now they have your phone number and can call or text whoever,' Polk said via YouTube. 'And you can think about a lot of accounts online that do verification through SMS. Let's say that I lost my password to some account and I wanted to have it recovered. They could say, 'We're texting your phone number the verification code to reset your password to one.' Well, if it send to your phone, but [the hackers] have your phone they can reset the account and you can see how they can get into a lot of accounts.'
'I know other people who have been getting hacked, but just have not come forward publicly,' Polk added.
Only a couple days ago, Rousso's Twitter account had apparently been hacked with Tweets going out saying she was in trouble and that someone needed to help her. She later announced she had been hacked and her account taken over.
Poker player Cate Hall was also the victim of hacking and reportedly had her Facebook and Twitter accounts overtaken.
I'm up again! Don't have access to Facebook yet but other accounts appear to be secure #
— Cate Hall (@catehall)While losing control of Facebook and Twitter can be problematic, hacking of a cell phone in general can be cause for bigger concerns. Selbst Tweeted that someone had apparently gone through her cell phone provider claiming to be her and seeking to change her pin number. The pin was changed and someone gained access to her phone.
'Anything you back with text messaging, which many do for Gmail, is vulnerable,' Polk noted in his video. 'They got access to her Gmail and all kinds of different things, but did not get access to her Bitcoin or anything like that because those accounts had 2FA that were not through text.'
2FA stands for two-factor authentication – in contrast with only one-factor. 2FA adds a second security measure beyond just a primary authentication such as a password.
'Two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security and makes it harder for attackers to gain access to a person's devices and online accounts, because knowing the victim's password alone is not enough to pass the authentication check,' according to Information Security magazine. 'Two-factor authentication has long been used to control access to sensitive systems and data, and online services are increasingly introducing 2FA to prevent their users' data from being accessed by hackers who have stolen a password database or used phishing campaigns to obtain users' passwords.'
However, if SMS text message is a layer of protection, the system could be irrelevant to a hacker able to gain access to a user's phone service. As Forbes recently noted, the use of cell phone technology as a gateway to hacking individual accounts, including financial, is a growing problem and that cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin) is a common target for hackers seeking a monetary score.
'The security weakness being exploited here is not one that only affects cryptocurrency industry players — they are simply being targeted first because such transactions cannot be undone,' Forbes notes. 'The security loophole these hackers are milking can be used against anyone who uses their phone number for security for services as common as Google, iCloud, a plethora of banks, PayPal, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Twitter, and many others. The hackers have infiltrated bank accounts and tried to initiate wire transfers; used credit cards to rack up charges; gotten into Dropbox accounts containing copies of passports, credit cards and tax returns; and extorted victims using incriminating information found in their email accounts.'
There is not a complete accounting of how many poker players were affected, why they were chosen, or if it is mere coincidence several were victimized at roughly the same time. However, many in the poker community believe high-stakes players are an obvious target because of their larger bankrolls and ease of finding out personal information from the Internet to help bypass cell phone security protocols.
'Online players who are not vigilant get hacked somewhat often, but I have never had an issue,' said Jonathan Little, poker pro and teacher at PokerCoaching.com.
Many in the security industry blame the telecom companies for falling victim to hackers impersonating cell phone users and too easily making account changes. With cell phones being so important to so many for financial services and other important information, critics say more stringent procedures are needed to protect privacy.
'The [telecom] companies don't treat your phone number like a bank account, but it should be treated like your bank,' Jesse Powell, CEO of U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, told Forbes. 'If you show up without your pin code or your ID, then they shouldn't help you. But they prioritize convenience above all else.'
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Cereus Poker Network was an online poker network comprising Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. The site is now insolvent and not processing player withdrawals. Cereus is owned by a private company, Blanca Games. Blanca Games bought all Network assets in August 2010 from Tokwiro Enterprises.[1] The Cereus network was one of the world's ten largest online pokercardrooms prior to losing the majority of its player base in the wake of the April 15, 2011 online poker indictments.[citation needed]
- 1Absolute Poker
- 2UltimateBet
- 32011 indictments
Absolute Poker[edit]
Absolute Poker was established in 2003. It was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.[citation needed]
2007 cheating incident[edit]
In September 2007, Absolute Poker began defending itself following accusations made by members of several Internet forums that the online poker room has a 'superuser' account which allows one player to read the hole cards of another during a game.[2] By October, widespread Internet allegations of cheating led to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission beginning an investigation.[3][4]
Although allegations had been made about several accounts, one of the most remarkable pieces of evidence was a complete history of a tournament which was won by a player called 'POTRIPPER'. This history was far more complete than normal; it included all hidden hole cards for all of the players at the table, and the IP addresses of players and third-party observers who were watching the game via the Internet. It was sent out, perhaps by accident, when a player complained about suspicious play. Reviewing the data, mathematician and gaming expert Michael Shackleford said:
Hand after hand POTRIPPER’s play is consistent with that of a player who had knowledge of every player’s hole cards. The majority of hands show POTRIPPER bluffing at just the right times when his opponents were weak. Yet, when he was hopelessly outmatched, even with good cards, he laid them down.[5]
Shackleford subsequently blacklisted Absolute Poker on his gaming-related website.[6]
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On October 19, an unofficial source within Absolute Poker claimed that an employee had hacked the system to 'prove a point'.[7] On October 21, Absolute released an official statement:
..it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. [..] We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined.[8]
In November 2007, Absolute issued an interim statement claiming the employee cheating had taken place over a period of forty days and that the cardroom was refunding $1.6 million to affected players.[9] The Kahnawake Gaming Commission issued its report on the incident in January 2008. Among other consequences, Absolute Poker was fined $500,000.[10]
The Quebec provincial police opened an investigation into the ongoing matter.[11]
UltimateBet[edit]
Founded in 2001, UltimateBet was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
UltimateBet offered Texas hold 'em, Omaha high and high low, seven card stud high and high low. Mixed game tables were also offered (HO, HOSE, HORSE). Like other online poker rooms, UltimateBet also offered a .net play-money-only cardroom.
UltimateBet hosted an annual live tournament, the Aruba Poker Classic, which was a World Poker Tour event for the first four seasons of the show. In 2005, Freddy Deeb won the event, claiming the $1,000,000 prize. Prior winners were Eric Brenes in 2004, Erick Lindgren in 2003, and Juha Helppi in 2002. The tournament in 2008 was a $5,000 buy-in event with a guaranteed $1 million top prize.
The company sponsored the poker television series Poker2Nite, hosted by professional poker player Joe Sebok and radio host Scott Huff.[12]
Spokespeople for UltimateBet have included professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, as well as actress-turned-poker player Tiffany Michelle.[13]
Prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, the software parent company of the cardroom, Excapsa Software was traded on the London Stock Exchange as XCP.L. In October 2006, the company announced it was selling its assets to a private company and moving to delist itself from the stock exchange.[14] The legality of the deal was immediately questioned because most of the payment would take place after the act became law.[15]
2005–2007 cheating scandal[edit]
UltimateBet had a cheating scandal similar in nature to that of Absolute Poker.[16] In May 2008, the company released a statement about the scandal, claiming that cheating had taken place from March 2006 to December 2007. However, in a later statement they confirmed that the cheating had begun at the start of 2005:
We have also confirmed that the cheating dates back further than we initially believed. We can now confirm that the cheating began in January 2005, long before Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG acquired UltimateBet from the previous ownership.[17]
The company claimed the cheating was perpetrated by employees of the former owners, Excapsa Software.[18] According to the company, the fraudulent activity was traced to unauthorized software code that transferred hole-card information of other players to the perpetrators during play. UltimateBet stated it had removed the cheating software as of February 2008 and began issuing refunds to affected players.[19]
On September 29, 2008, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission stated it had found clear and convincing evidence to support a conclusion that between the approximate dates of May 2004 to January 2008, Russ Hamilton was the main person responsible for, and benefiting from, multiple cheating incidents at Ultimate Bet.[20][21]
2011 indictments[edit]
On April 15, the Department of Justice seized the .com internet addresses of the three online gambling sites, PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker.[22] The Cereus Poker Network continued operating until May 12, 2012 when players reported being unable to connect to game servers using the poker client software. At the time of its closure, it owed players an estimated $50 million, mostly to residents of the United States.[23]
Absolute Poker Claims Process[edit]
On April 10, 2017, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a press release explaining that former players at Absolute Poker would be eligible to file claims to regain the funds in their balances at the defunct poker site.[24] Money held in Ultimate Bet accounts is also eligible for reimbursement. The Garden City Group was retained as claims administrator. This is the same company that handled claims relating to Full Tilt Poker, which was also targeted in the 2011 indictments against online poker firms. After the Full Tilt Poker remissions process was completed, having returned more than $118 million to affected players, some of the money that had been set aside for it yet remained unclaimed. It is this leftover amount that will be distributed in compensation to the former customers of the Cereus Poker Network. The petition for remission deadline is set at Sept. 7, 2017 with payments to be processed shortly thereafter.[25]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^Elaine Chaivarlis. 'Cereus Poker Network Acquired by Blanca Games'. pokernews.com.
- ^'Absolute Poker in 'Superuser' Controversy'. bluffeurope.com.
- ^Associated Press: Kahnawake Gaming Commission Starts Probe into AbsolutePoker.comArchived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^eGaming Review: Absolute engulfed in cheating scandal
- ^'Absolute Poker Warning'. wizardofodds.com.
- ^'Online Casino Blacklist'. wizardofodds.com.
- ^''Geek' blamed for online poker cheating - Technology & science - Security - NBC News'. NBC News.
- ^Haley Hintze. 'Absolute Poker: Consultant Cited in Latest Statement'. pokernews.com.
- ^AllIn Magazine: Absolute Poker Issues Interim Statement On Security BreachArchived November 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Kahnawake Gambling Commission: In the Matter of Absolute PokerArchived July 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine PDF file
- ^ABC News. 'Online Poker Players Expose Alleged Fraud'. ABC News.
- ^Gordon, Nicole; Friedman, Michael (2009-11-19). 'Does Poker2Nite Have What it Takes to Flourish?'. PokerNews. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
- ^Ultimatebet.com: UltimateBet's Star Players Team Turns to Hollywood for Newest RecruitArchived November 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Bloomberg: Excapsa to Sell Assets, Scrap Listing on U.S. Gaming Crackdown
- ^'Business - The Times'. timesonline.co.uk.
- ^'Public Still Awaiting Answers in UltimateBet Cheating Scandal'. pokerworks.com.
- ^Status Update on NioNio InvestigationArchived November 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ULTIMATEBET ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING UNFAIR PLAYArchived August 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Haley Hintze. 'Online Site UltimateBet Issues Statement Regarding Unfair Play'. pokernews.com.
- ^Haley Hintze. 'Kahnawake Gaming Commission Announces Sanctions on UltimateBet: Russ Hamilton Named'. pokernews.com.
- ^Kahnawake Gaming Commission: Kahnawake Gaming Commission Imposes Sanctions on Ultimate Bet with Regard to Cheating IncidentsArchived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Richtel, Matt (2011-04-15). 'U.S. Cracks Down on Online Gambling'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^'Can We Discuss Absolute Poker'. Two Plus Two Publishing.
- ^'US Attorney Announces Compensation Program for Absolute Poker Victims'. US Department of Justice.
- ^'Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet Claims Administration'. Garden City Group LLC.