A REAL reason to be afraid of Pacific Poker

[Juggler]

As you guys know, I have been one of Pacific's stoutest supporters since it first came online. Sadly, I am now done with them, and I feel the need to warn you of the danger so you can make your own assessment.

No...this isn't about robots, conspiracy theories, or anything that the paranoid crowd always dreams up to explain losing. It's about plain old internet security.

I was lucky enough to win consistently for the first few months I played at Pacific. I busted out in January, and made my first deposit in a long time on 1/27. Amazed is an understatement of what I felt when I saw that the deposit screen (where my neteller ID and password were transmitted) were going over http: instead of https: (a secure protocol). Unless I'm badly mistaken, this means that my financial information was transmitted over open air with no encryption. I emailed them immediately about this, and received the standard answer from support that said how secure they were, etc. I immediately replied, told them they were wrong, and asked them if they wanted this to be their official answer to the public, and suggested they get a security developer to answer before I went public with their answer. They committed an answer within 48 hours.

On 2/7 (almost two weeks later), I still hadn't received a response, and gave them one final chance to explain their position before I went public with my concerns and moved to playing another site. Yesterday (2/9), I received a reply that said the following:

<font color="blue"> Please know that your pertinent suggestions have been conveyed to our Development Department, and will be closely studied.

The department in reference has informed me that they are in the process of upgrading the site. They have also assured me the the site will be more secure than ever.
</font color>

I don't know about you, but that didn't make me feel very good. I sent them another note telling them that I was taking my business elsewhere, and if they ever figured it out to let me know.

Make your own judgments, but buyer beware. If they should ever come up with a better answer, I'll post it.

[MS Sunshine]

" I saw that the deposit screen (where my neteller ID and password were transmitted) were going over http: instead of https: (a secure protocol)."

Correct me if I'm wrong but you're saying the keys to our money are being sent in the open? While I could never access this data, a moderately bright 15 year-older could.

I don't feel warm and fussy about this.

Can anyone, from the site, confirm this info?

MS Sunshine

[Mike Haven]

i don't know what this means but here is what they told me:

Dear Member,

Thank you for contacting us.
We strongly recommend using Casino-on-Net's secure Online Credit Card
system. It is fast, user friendly, and completely secure. We use SSL
(Secure Socket Layer) technology for securing our transaction server and
MD5 encryption technology for data transfer. It is safer than using your
Credit Card at your local gas station or when ordering a pizza over the
telephone.
Intersafe Global (provider of e-cash and Credit Card processing services
for Casino-on-Net) is one of the most experienced e-cash firms worldwide
and has processed millions of Online transactions without problem.
However, if you prefer, at Casino-on-Net we do offer the option of
printing out a Deposit form and Faxing it to us.

If you require further assistance in this or any other matter please
feel free to contact us. We are here for you 24 hours a day, everyday.

Sincerely,
Stefano
Member Support Representative

[tdiddy]

When I click on deposit, it says "Establishing secure connection to Intersafe Global Server." Then on the deposit sreen in the upper right hand corner it says "Secure Connection." And there is a picture of a lock. So, Juggler, are you saying that this is all smoke and mirrors?

I know nothing about this stuff actually, but I would think that this is one thing that pacific would be good at since they have been in the online casino business for so long. Can someone with knowledge of internet security explain this to us please?

Or Juggler can you go to the deposit screen now and see if this is the way it was before.

[twizzilator]

"...MD5 encryption technology.."

roflmao

[MrGrob]

...the software is so slow, that I feel my life pass me by as I play. They game me 20$ free -- I got it to 50$ and then decided to dump it to those who liked the site -- it is too slow -- just tooooo slow.......... [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Juggler]

Actually, tdiddy, they have changed it. The "secure connection" piece you mention here was there before, but this was while you are inside of their program, and meant nothing when you were transferred to the web cashier.

The web cashier is now going through https:, so apparently they took my advice and changed it, but for some reason, chose not to communicate the change either to me nor to their support staff.

Sorry if I got folks concerned unnecessarily. I am confident it was a problem, and assumed they wouldn't have admitted it if they had fixed it...but I guess that's not the case. I would advise you to watch for this, though, on any confidential data you send through a web browser (on this or any other site). If it isn't https:, it isn't safe.

[Vahe]

Hello,

I would like to clarify the issue raised by Juggler.

Juggler is writing about the WebCashier (http://cashier.pacificpoker.com), which is a gateway to other deposit methods such as NETeller, PrePaidATM, etc. Other members of this forum are referring to the Cashier within the Poker Room.
Both are secure and there is no "smoke and mirrors."
However, on January 27th there was a problem with the WebCashier when, because of an error by one of the
developers, the "https" was disabled and the certificate not renewed. Since the WebCashier is not used extensively for transferring personal information, as it is mostly a gateway to the sites of the payment methods that are secure, we didn't notice the failure until Juggler notified us on the same day. Now we have updated the certificate and took necessary measures to avoid this kind of problem in the future.
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. I also would like to thank Juggler and all of the members of this forum for keeping us on our toes.

Wish you all good luck,
Vahe
Casino-on-Net/Pacific Poker

[tdiddy]

This is very cool. I am happy to see someone from Pacific reading and posting on this site.

[tdiddy]

...the software is so slow, that I feel my life pass me by as I play.

Just wanted to emphasize this sentence to all of the sharks on here who were considering playing at Pacific. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]