Computerized Betting System Proves Vulnerable

count3r writes "A front page article in today's New York Times reports that an employee of Autotote has been fired for (allegedly) hacking the system responsible for 65% of all horseracing bets in North America. The caper, if it is indeed a caper, resulted in a series of six bets that paid a total of $3,000,000 in last Saturday's Breeders' Cup."

Comments

Pallidum would have solved this.

[_LORAX_]

DRM will be our savior.....

Oh wait, he required that kind of access to do his job? So DRM wouldn't have helped. What do you mean that most hacks are inside jobs? .... nothing to see, please move along.

What happened to the old days

[nogoodmonkey]

when people used to give horses steroids so that they would win their bets. All this new technology is confusing!

This wouldn't have happened when the mob ran it!

[webperf]

see what happens when you legalize it??? all these crooks get in and screw it over.

No way!

[zuggy]

Nah, it can't be vulnerable. Online betting is trustworthy. Why, as soon as I get my bonus back from the Nigerian Petroleum Company, I'm going online to bet on the ponies!

Sorry I had to...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it a new business model?

1. Have a randomly bad day in the gambling biz.
2. Blame it on some sap and refuse to pay up.
3. PROFIT!!!

Another computerized wagering event coming up:

[burgburgburg]

Tuesday's elections

Fortunately, all of those systems are closed, so I'm sure that security was motto number 1.

Of course, motto number 2 was "Ignore motto number 1".

Things you don't do

[El_Smack]

Tug on Superman's cape.
Spit into the wind.
Rip off the NY mafia to the tune of $3,000,000.

Re:This wouldn't have happened when the mob ran it

[ShawnDoc]

The same thing happenes when the mob runs things. Its just instead of it making it into the paper as a "hacker" story, it would wind up in the paper as "Headless Body Found in East River".

What's next?

[oiuyt]

Next we'll find out that people cheat on things that DON'T pay like SETI@HOME stats....

-B

Re:Not too smart.

[jazman_777]

I will never understand how people come up with good, well thought out crime plans, and then totally screw up the execution by rushing things or bring too much attention to the project. Just dumb.

Well, the brilliant plan to milk billions from the Federal Reserve Bank in Denver is still going strong, undiscovered.

Hmm...Next week's headline?

[voice of unreason]

In other news, shortly after being dismissed the former employee had an unfortunate accident resulting in the breaking of both his kneecaps.

He needn't worry about the authorities...

[bshroyer]

It's organized crime that's going to get him. Revenge.

I see evidence that this guy is pretty lame - he's dumb enough to screw up a good scam his first time out by shooting for the moon. We can't assume that a novice is the first person to find this scam, but AutoTote indicates he's the first to be caught.

I'll wager dollars to doughnuts that he's just closed the loop on a lucrative betting system being utilized by any number of "organized" gamblers, and will be hearing from a guy named Vito in the near future.

Re:VLT Backdoors?

[BarryJacobsen]

His death cry as he fell: "Beeeeeeeeeeee Foooooooouuuuuurrrrrteeeeeeeeeeennnn" *splat*

Keyser Soze

[Anonymous Coward]

How about mangling that line a little bit more, felchboy?

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." 'Didn't exist'. Not 'didn't do stuff'.

And get the fucking name right. It's Keyser Soze.