Black hat hackers have been playing poker for prizes such as stolen IDs and credit card details. Trend Micro, a cybersecurity outfit recently published a report detailing the dodgy games where hackers with too much free time play for the ill-gotten gains.
Hackers Aren’t Quite What You’d Expect
The COVID-19 pandemic has left hackers with too much time on their hands apparently. You might expect them to be in their element having all day to loaf around in front of their screen, but it seems there’s not enough criminality to go around.
The cybercriminals organised a variety of contests to pass the time during this strange year. From online rap battles to poem tournaments. They even managed to work around local lockdowns for in-person sports contests, but the online poker home games were where the real fun was found.
Credit card details and a treasure trove of personally identifiable information (PII) that were already acquired illegally will now be used to commit further crimes—possibly on online poker platforms.
Top Prizes
The prizes all look typical of something a hacker would appreciate. Masses of cloud-based stolen data are to be expected but some of the other swag is interesting.
“Licenses for Linken Sphere, a customized browser that uses stolen credentials and system fingerprints to avoid anti-fraud system detection. Criminals typically use these to monetize stolen credit cards or payment systems credentials,”
“A script to automate the creation of cloned websites and e-shops. Underground actors often use these to harvest user credentials, PII, credit cards, e-wallets, and other monetizable assets by tricking users into logging in and shopping on a cloned version of a website,”
These guys are real professionals at this. There’s no wonder why the online world has such an obsession with security these days.
The next time one of us is inconvenienced with a poker account being locked down for a routine check we should appreciate that it is for our protection. Hackers are constantly trying to steal something from us online.
Honour Amongst Thieves
The most amusing part of this story is that none of these potentially lucrative prizes are ever stolen. It’s like the cliche honour amongst thieves.
These hackers spend their lives trying to fleece people and yet manage to resist the temptation to rob each other. Maybe the poker community can learn something from this tale!
Don’t forget to check out the latest poker news to see what’s been going on in the poker world.
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