Online poker sites have taken hundreds of measures against spyware and viruses till date but have failed to reach 100% security. In a recent digital attack, poker players were targeted by a computer malware which spied on their hole cards and other crucial information.
The malware got into the computers of players through the 3rd party poker softwares, calculators and databases which help them play better through analytics. This malware has hit majorly the players of two poker sites owned by Amaya Inc. – PokerStars and Full Tilt.
Once the malware got into the CPU, it monitor’s the activity on the screen and sends screenshots to the attacker. The images shared have the hands being played and the full table screenshot with the user IDs. The attacker can use the information and join the same table on the poker site. The information of hole cards gives an advantage to the attacker against the victim.
Robert Lipovsky, a security researcher at Eset, published this issue in his blogpost. “We are unsure whether the perpetrator plays the games manually or in some automated way,” wrote Mr Lipovsky. It is believed that this malware has been active for months and has hit mostly the users of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia and the Ukraine.