If only they could hack into NASD servers...
Monday September 10 11:44 AM ET
Hackers Clean Up in Net Casino Attacks, Experts Say
By Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Call it the gambling industry's dirty little secret. Hackers are sabotaging online casinos with greater regularity, security and gambling experts say, in some cases scamming large sums of money from the gaming firms.
Last week, CryptoLogic Inc., a Canadian software company that develops online casino games, said a hacker had cracked one of the firm's gaming servers, corrupting the play of craps and video slots so that players could not lose.
The company said that for a few hours during the disruption in late August, 140 gamblers racked up winnings of $1.9 million.
The games were altered so that every roll of the dice in craps turned up doubles, and every spin on the slots generated a perfect match, the company said.
``In the case of slots, it was coming out cherries across the board,'' CryptoLogic spokeswoman Nancy Chan-Palmateer told Reuters on Monday.
She added the security breach affected two of Cryptologic's 19 casino operating licensees; she would not disclose the two site operators.
The winners were permitted to keep the money as it is believed they had no hand in the hack attack. She said: ``It is likely the intruder was somebody with inside information of our system.'' CryptoLogic is cooperating with investigators.
CryptoLogic is liable to absorb $600,000 of the misappropriated winnings, as a $1.3 million insurance claim will cover the remainder. |
