The biggest online poker website in the world relies on the latest and best online security technology to keep its resources and its players protected from cyber attacks. Online poker websites are constantly on the radar of cyber criminals as they realize they can make huge profits by hacking an online poker security network.
PokerStars recently confirmed that its online poker website could have been infiltrated by an artificial intelligence which was focused on manipulating the system and giving a couple of poker players an unfair advantage at mid-stakes pot-limit Omaha games.
The players are suspected of logging in from Kazakhstan and Russia and then using artificial bots to attack the $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 pot-limit Omaha tables. The two players have reportedly won a combined amount that is close to $1.5 million but there is a possibility that this amount is a lot higher when one takes into consideration that account benefits they would be able to avail through PokerStars Stellar Rewards and VIP programs.
There are reports that once these poker players were able to hack the PokerStars website, they went ahead and used the same method to compromise Full Tilt Poker and then 888poker. If these reports are found to be true, then it could pose a serious threat to online poker websites as the general opinion was that bots were not advanced enough to beat poker players at the pot-limit Omaha poker variant which is a complex game.
The possibility of PokerStars being compromised was first highlighted on the popular TwoPlusTwo poker forum when two players from PokerStars posted a thread on the forum in March 2015 and asked PokerStars to investigate the matter. The post was made by “Grethe” and “Oink” who highlighted the fact that there was something fishy happening.
The investigation was brought to the public eye on the TwoPlusTwo poker forum, where posters “Grethe” and “Oink”, both regular players in these games, shared their concerns with the poker community this past March. This took place after these players asked PokerStars to investigate on the matter. PokerStars decided to take action on the concerns raised and investigated the matter. They recently replied to ‘Grethe’ and apologized for taking so long to reply to his thread.
The statement from a PokerStars said
Please understand that this was a particularly complex investigation. We are unable to comment on an investigation that is ongoing, and we wanted to take the time to ensure that we reached the correct resolution. Prior to your original email to us reporting this matter, we had already been investigating the accounts in question. We are now able to confirm that we have closed a number of these accounts which were found to be violating our Terms of Service
