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[alrelax]

High Tech cheaing by Russians with slot machines.  How they did it.

https://www.wired.com/2017/02/russians-engineer-brilliant-slot-machine-cheat-casinos-no-fix/

[Anydawana]

Did this only happen with slot machines? How were things in online casinos? It seems that their system would be more challenging to hack.

[KungFuBac]

A fantastic read/thx for sharing alrelax.

Anydawana--"...How were things in online casinos? It seems that their system would be more challenging to hack.
..."
     Good thoughts Anydawana--as I didn't consider from that angle. Also makes one ponder if this Russia team had other schemes (hacking financial institutions, governments, corporations, bitcoin,online gambling sites, ...etc)
     

This reminds one of the old movie from the early 2000s :  "Catch Me If You Can" with Leonardo DeCaprio,T. Hanks. Even though you know the cat ultimately will win/should win. Still , occasionally in some  cat/mouse games you can't help but cheer for the mouse every once in awhile. Especially when no fatalities occurred, they werent scalping children or the elderly,...etc. Just my personal opinions as there may be more to this story.


"...a casino security expert named Darrin Hoke, who was then director of surveillance at L'Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, took it upon himself to investigate the scope of the hacking operation..."
     A pat on the back to Mr. Hoke--without his expertise, work ethic, and determination this could have gone on for many more years or possibly until all these specific-type slot machines were retired.

I'm guessing these Russian gentleman are asking the U.S. to not send them back to their teammates in St Petersburg. Whom would likely greet them at the airport with an all-expense-paid  and one-way trip to Siberia(never to be seen or heard again)

If I was part of the group detained in the U.S. my negotiations with U.S. officials would be as follows:
A) I can work for you or against you,
B)Im just the worker Bee and most of the profits were sent back to the big hive in St Petersburg so I can't pay much in restitution (actually they probably stuck it in Bitcoin--"now I know why bitcoin is approaching an all time high") ,
C)Please give me a perpetual work visa in the US and never send me back to Russia.

     A good deal for both parties and they may actually prove to be good U.S. citizens:  1)Good work ethic so won't siphon from the welfare system, 2)Employable as they have a proven work history, 3)Disciplined and able to work as a team/follow rules, 4) Expertise with designing an efficient business model with a good ROI, (except for that one little dealio----it was illegal), 5)Trainable, and could be taught how to play Baccarat.




Continued Success To All,

[Gundyr]

You think right. Indeed, online casinos use a unique system of data encryption, which is very difficult to access. That helps to secure all transactions taking place on the platform and protect users from fraud. It also helps to protect the service from hacking. Slot machines cannot boast of such possibilities. I am not surprised that it was the Russians who managed to cheat them. I will not be surprised either if the Russians hack into the online casino system. Although the top casino slots, this is no threat because usually on such platforms is a system of protection as at the Pentagon.