As an online player you need to enter your log in name and password to access your online casino account. Any person who has access to this information can operate your account. This means that they can wager the funds in your account and even withdraw the funds from your account. All online casinos take security precautions so that the private information of the players stored on their servers is not compromised. However often players negate this good work by playing at online casinos from un-trusted sources.
An un-trusted source is any computer that is not within your control round the clock so that other users have the possibility to download programs or utilities on the computer. The most glaring example of an un-trusted source is a computer at an Internet café. Unfortunately online players frequently use Internet cafes. Other examples are computers that are shared by others users at educational institutions, libraries and work places. If you allow your home computer to be used indiscriminately by others, it too could become an un-trusted source.
As an online player you need to understand what can happen by playing from un-trusted computers. Even if you use HTTPS and secure servers the sensitive information you key in, like log in name and password, can be tracked by others using spyware or backdoors. Spyware is usually installed surreptitiously in order to track the surfing habits of users so as to learn which sites are popular. However spyware can also collect personal information like passwords and the author of the spyware can misuse this information by transacting on your behalf. A backdoor is a connection to the computer network to which all activity performed on the computers in the network is transmitted. Both spyware and backdoor are known as keyloggers because they track every key pressed by the user. Keyloggers are trained to identify and circumvent security systems. What happens when you key in your password is that it goes in encrypted form to the online casino’s server but can go as plain text to the keylogger via the spyware or backdoor.
Often keyloggers are not installed with malicious intent. They may be installed to check the instances of hate mail for example. However when your money is on the line it is better to be safe than sorry. There is only one rule that you should follow. Never access an online casino from a computer that you do not have total control over. Even in your own computer it is advisable to install a quality virus scanner like those made by Avast, AVG, McAfee, or Norton. Some online casinos may have spyware installed in their software though this not usually the case. Hence it is worth installing programs like spybot that search for and destroy spyware. |
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Yeah I can only imagine the types of issues that could arise from using a public computer to play casino games at or access any sort of financial application. Seems like it would be a recipe for potential identity theft.