Privacy, Security & Virus Information

What next? Online Poker game hijacked and billions of chips whisked off to cyber space

One of the biggest cyber crimes of all time was recently revealed when an England based hacker was charged with stealing hundreds of billions of virtual poker chips with a real cash value estimated to be in the millions of dollars. The hacker was apprehended when he shopped his hand by attempting to sell the chips for real cash online.

The hacker, who appeared recently in court charged with his offences managed to gain the confidence of the online players by claiming to be a supervisor on the leading online gamers site, Zynga, and persuaded with a number of players to part with their log in details. It wasn't too long before the cyber card shark was using player's accounts to purchase chips, and when his stack reached massive proportions began to sell them off.

The chances are that the chip stealer would have escaped the attention of the authorities if he had kept his activities a little more low profile, but he obviously panicked and began to cash in his chips too fast and the next thing he noticed was several very large and very real officers of the law feeling his collar.

While this form of cyber theft is unusual because the perpetrator actually got caught, but it raises worries about the security on sights such as Zynga, especially as they are reported to be on their way to becoming a part of the Google stable in some form or another. Zynga also produce a few of the major online games, including Fishville, Mafia Wars and the famous Farmville.

Internet security experts fear that this form of online gaming will be among the favourite hacker's targets largely due to its audience of millions who tend to be less aware of the risks of cyber theft. At one time parents only had to worry where there kinds went when they outside the home, but thanks to the internet, they equally need to know where they are even when they are indoors surfing the web, That's why every parent has to ensure that their internet security is being protected, and not haphazardly. Only the most up-to-date and powerful anti-virus software can provide these levels of protection. It would be bad enough to discover that your off-spring were playing Texas-hold-em for millions on line, but even worse that some on had " turned over" the game.

 

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