Protect Against Hackers and Malware

What should a poker player do to protect his machine against hackers and malware?  The standard answer is to put the machine behind a router and install and update anti-virus and firewall software.  This is good advice that everyone, whether they play poker or not, should follow.  But recent advances in security technology offer many more options and much more protection.  In this article, we’ll briefly review three promising technologies.

The first technology is sandboxing.  A sandbox is a walled off "space."  Programs that run in a sandbox can only access the resources in the sandbox.  To see the benefits of sandboxing, imagine that you are surfing the internet and visit a page with a malicious Facebook application.  That application may be able to access any part of your system, but if the browser is running in a sandbox, the malicious application will only be able to access the resources in the sandbox.  The most popular sandboxing program for Windows is Sandboxie, which costs approximately $39.  A video that shows the benefits of Sandboxie is available here.

The second technology is off-processor security.  One of the risks with any security software, such as standard anti-virus programs, is that the operating system itself will be compromised.  If the operating system is compromised, then the anti-virus program can be suspended or made to report that there are no problems when, in fact, malware exists on the machine.  Off-processor security programs run on a separate processor that is running a separate operating system.  This separation greatly reduces the possibility that the security program itself will be compromised. The leading product in this area is Yoggie.

The third technology is anti-keylogging.  Key loggers are programs that record keystrokes.  Your bank accounts, passwords, and Table Ninja commands can all be transmitted in near real-time if you have a keylogger installed on your machine.  Anti-keyloggers detect keyloggers and prevent them from capturing your keystrokes.  The Zemana anti-keylogger has an excellent reputation.

What do you do if you do not want to hassle with understanding and configuring all of this security software?  One option is to buy a PC that is hardened against viruses, malware, and hackers out of the box.  Two companies have announced such systems in recent months.

The first is InZero Systems.  The InZero laptop comes with a protected browser and hardware that keeps online transactions, such as deposits to and from Click2Pay, safe.  Former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency director Anthony Tether says, "It was very secure.  As best we can tell, there isn't a way to circumvent it."

The second is SecurePC.  A poker-playing MIT graduate whose machine was infected by a virus launched the company.  SecurePC's high-end PC comes with over a dozen security programs pre-installed and configured, all of which have been checked for compatibility with several poker site clients as well as major poker software.

Thinking about security is not a gratifying or fulfilling experience for most people.  However, the risks are increasing and the cost of getting hacked is enormous, particularly for professional poker players.  Taking the time to learn about the latest security technologies and implementing the ones that seem most beneficial is a worthwhile investment of time and money.

This article was contributed by the makers of SecurePC.