Computing website Techradar.com have reported a trojan might be able to compromise poker software, allowing others to see your hole cards
Thursday 13th March 2008
A story at a computing website has claimed that trojan programs are being used to steal via online poker.
Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer F-Secure said his company recently investigated a case where a poker player is thought to have lost thousands through a suspected Trojan program.
'Online poker players are a massive target for hackers,' Hyppönen said 'We were just investigating a case where 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.'
Hyppönen added that one player lost hundreds of thousands of euros in a short spell, and when they investigated what was happening, they believed the player’s poker software had been hacked, allowing others to see his hole cards.
'When we looked into it we realized that one of the other players at the table had sent him a tool. A calculator to help optimise the poker playing or whatever. And we found that the application included a Trojan.'
'Which means that when he was playing online poker against these people who were in another country, the guy could press a button and he would receive a screenshot of the target’s screen. So he sees the hole cards. If you’re playing poker and the other players know your cards, it’s pretty hard to win.'
