My Party Poker account was hacked, lost $600

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
this is most likely what happened to mine, it was embarrassingly close to my username

[/ QUOTE ]


Yup....if your password is very similar to your user-name then someone will have a chance to figure it out.

After reading one or two of these type threads (usually I think it's the delinquent kid getting on their Dad's acct or something...but still....) I changed my passwords from stuff like 'Oscar7' to 'Tj%6l/eL:&3' or something like that.


Seriously people....if you've got thousands of dollars (or even just hundreds of dollars) riding on this it isn't worth taking any kind of chances just for the silly convenience of not having to write-down your passwords because they are THAT simple.


If I was a criminal who wanted to try to get away with that stuff I would try this out in a heart-beat.
It was asked earlier in the thread...but I don't think it was answered...as far as I know there is no limit to the number of times you can 'guess' at a password on party where they will 'freeze' the account.
If this is true then they need to implement something like this.

my bank-account has this. It also forces me to change my password every month or two.
When I go back there...if I accidentally type an old pass-word a couple times it freezes my account and I'm either not allowed to try again for 10 minutes...or I have to call cust-serv to clear it up.
Can be a pain in the ass....but I am very thankful that my bank does something like this and think that Party should consider doing same (again...this is assuming they don't do so already which I am not entirely certain about).

[Phlebas]

If I were you I would file a police report ASAP. I don't know US law but I assume that there will be something illegal about accessing an account without the owner's permission. Given that Party is in Gibralter, the US authorities aren't going to be able to do much to force them to give out info, but since the perp seems to be based in the US then they can go after him via the IP address you've got. Do pursue this via the authorities since it doesn't look like you've got a hope via Party [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[iluzion]

[ QUOTE ]
I do not think that your account was "hacked." You probably accidently gave out your password in some embarassing fashion, i.e. a virus.

[/ QUOTE ]

But how possible/often could that be a problem? Enough that you should regularly change all your passwords?

[shadow29]

Can someone recommend a password generator? You know one of those things that gives you like: a4%*!nnd634 or whatever.

[mmbt0ne]

Passwords are easy. Just mash keys like this:

&Dk,j$vD@d5#09#>3sEdf1^20D#<

and then start copying 10 character intervals.

Dk,j$vD@d5
@d5#09#>3s
Edf1^20D#<
etc.

[TommyO]

I use PasswordSafe for creating/storing passwords. It's free and easy to use. The passwords it generates are impossible to remember so you basically have to open up PasswordSafe before starting your poker program. You just double click on the item in PasswordSafe to copy the password into the clipboard and paste it into the text box in the poker program. Problem solved.

[pudley4]

[ QUOTE ]
Passwords are easy. Just mash keys like this:

&Dk,j$vD@d5#09#>3sEdf1^20D#<

and then start copying 10 character intervals.

Dk,j$vD@d5
@d5#09#>3s
Edf1^20D#<
etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Even easier is to turn a phrase/sentence into a password using letters numbers and symbols:

"You're too late so I won the money" turns into:

UR2l8soeye1the$$"

[SA125]

You own an IT business so let me ask you 2 questions.

1 - Does the fact that hand histories are being constantly logged dirtectly into your hard drive make it make easier for someone to hack into it?

2 - Is it really that difficult, for a program that would see your cards, to hack into your system?

With all the advancements in technology, I can't imagine how it's that unimaginable to do. I'd appreciate any light you can shed on why it is or isn't. Thanks.

[Revid]

[ QUOTE ]
I use Password Safe for creating/storing passwords. It's free and easy to use. The passwords it generates are impossible to remember so you basically have to open up Password Safe before starting your poker program. You just double click on the item in Password Safe to copy the password into the clipboard and paste it into the text box in the poker program. Problem solved.

[/ QUOTE ]

I use Password Safe also. Unfortunately Party was the one site that I did not use a strong password for. But I recommend everyone use password safe, it uses Blowfish encryption (which is very secure). Here is the link to get it for free http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

[autobet]

playing poker for money over the internet is illegal, so the police are not going to help