Do you wile away your time playing poker online? How are you doing? Losing a lot? There might be a reason beyond your poor poker-playing skills.
It’s been uncovered that several hundred online poker player’s accounts have been infected with malware called Odlanor. The bad guys are able to take screen shots of player’s hands and then join the game. Unbeknownst to the victim, the bad guy uses the illicit information to cheat their way to win(s) during the game.
Victims unwittingly install malware embedded in poker-related programs and even as installers. The innocent poker player never even knows what has happened – except they are losing. Sadly, that in itself may not be unusual. Until they quit playing, they will continue to be cheated and lose.
The problems don’t always stop there, apparently. Forensic computer analysis provides even more of the details. In addition to the screen shot malware, other malware is often installed as well. From a remote location the bad guy can use the data mining software to get personal and professional information including passwords, credit card and bank account numbers, emails, messages and files on the device.
What started as losing on a poker site turns into your entire life being turned upside down. Computer forensic services run spyware detectors to identify the spyware code and can then remove it, but that requires a computer forensic investigation. If the poker programs were opened on your cell phone, that device might have been infected as well, meaning that a mobile phone spyware detection analysis is required.
Cellular forensics and anti-spyware computer forensics are becoming more and more common because of the nature of technology use in our daily lives, including the game playing we do for entertainment.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations
