According to reports from several poker sites, and the security company F-Secure, poker cheats are getting increasingly creative.
Mike Hyppönen, chief researcher at F-Secure, said that "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".
The attack came in the form of an odds calculating tool that contained a Trojan which allowed the sender of the file to view the screen of the infected computer – thereby allowing them to see the hand that the victim is holding.
While Trojans in general are nothing new, reports indicate that this particular file can be picked up by virus scanners, but the majority of scanners are not able to remove it automatically. It can be removed manually if you have sufficient technical knowledge, however.
The main lesson from these reports is that you should not trust people who you have met online – even if you play against someone regularly, and have spent a lot of time talking to them, do not accept a file transfer from them. People you are playing against online are still your competitors, and scammers are often very good at appearing to be your friend until they get what they want.
It seems that now they realize that online casinos and poker rooms are relatively secure, they are going for the last link in the chain, and targeting the players themselves.
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