Friday 14 March 2008

TROJANS AND POKER DO NOT MIX

If just a short while ago a security company, Symantec by name, producer of the famous Norton Anti-virus tool, has reported that online casinos and especially the poker branch of them have been targeted by cyber criminals that use the opportunity to set up bots in order to launder money and transfer the cash from one to another, now F-Secure has deemed it necessary to warn of a different angle of wrongdoings encountered.

The poker tables haven't been left alone by online fraudsters, and F-Secure reported the case that caught their attention: "A professional online poker player was attacked by someone he would play against regularly online. And we're talking about professional players, and big money. Hundreds of thousands of euros on the table at a time," said Mike Hyppönen, the chief researcher at the security company. While most people play the game out of sheer pleasure or with the desire to win, to others it has become an obsession to amass as much credit into their accounts, no matter what. The compulsive need to win should be treated in institutions just like the gambling addiction, but that's only a personal opinion.

These people have gone to great lengths to secure their win, but through the wrong means. The attack was disguised as an odd calculating tool that one player would send to the other, and after the file transfer would be complete, the true nature of the software would be revealed: with the help of a little Trojan, the sender would be able to see the screen of the receiver, after his computer had been infected. That's the lowest form of cheating ever to be resorted to - seeing the opponent's hand. What ever happened to the classic "may the best man win" or the thrills? Greed must have had them covered and muted in its embrace.

There's some good news, though, in this particular case, so those infected aren't doomed to perdition. They must be careful, though, to never accept any file from others they have met online, but if they did, the Trojan is usually detectable with most virus scanners, but not so easily removed, unless a little technical knowledge is provided, so as to carry out the task of manual deletion.

If there's a lesson to be had, it's that even people met online and considered as friends at the poker table can't be trusted. After all, they are your competition, and they want to win just as badly as you do - if not more. So update your security software, set up some new filters if you know how, and under no circumstances accept file transfers from others you know from online casinos. Even though they might pose as friends, they're not, and we're talking about your experience and money here.

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