A large security hole was found on the Cake Poker network the other day. The security hole means that information with bad encryption (not SSL like many other sites) is being sent between Cake Poker's servers and players, which makes it easy for a hacker to crack the code and see hole cards, login details and other information.
Lee Jones, cardroom manager at Cake Poker, explained in a forum thread that he had asked the security team to look over its security a few months ago after that he had heard about another poker site where the security was lacking when connected to an unencrypted wireless network.
The security team explained to him that they had no problems whatsoever and that there was nothing to worry about. But as we all know now - the security team's words were just taken out of the blue as it's now proved that there clearly is a security hole in the code. However, according to the ones who found the security hole and cracked the code, it's only possible for a hacker to crack the code if he's in range of a poker players unencrypted wireless network.
We will probably hear a lot more about this in the next few days. For now, we can just hope that Cake Poker takes care of the issue ASAP so that its players can feel 100% safe.
Here are few tips from Lee Jones on how you can avoid to be exposed for cheating.
* Make sure that your computer is secure. Run anti-virus and spyware detection software, don't share your computer's password with anybody else, etc.
* In terms of network security, the most secure thing you can do is play on a wired network. Plugging your computer into a router or modem with an Ethernet cable is the best defense against your packets being sniffed.
* If you are on a wireless home, dorm, or other network that is WPA2 protected, that's your next most secure solution.
* We encourage you not to play on a wireless network which is not password protected. For instance, if the coffee shop around the corner just plugged a wireless router into their cable connection and announced "Free WiFi", you shouldn't be playing on the Cake Network there. It's worth noting, in fact, that you shouldn't be doing anything of financial importance over an unprotected wireless network (poker, banking, etc).
Do you feel safe when playing poker online? Maybe you have been exposed for cheating? We wanna hear your stories! Of course we also welcome everyone else to post comments and thoughts on this.
