New Security Features At Poker Stars Coming, Beta Testing Starting Soon Options

[FCP Bob]

I was contacted by Poker Stars to be a beta tester of some new security features that Poker Stars has coming in the future and the e-mail below I received a few days ago and I think you might be interested.

At least one other FCPer is also involved in the testing.

Look at the P.S. as well for information on some of the features of the software update coming tomorrow.


From: gamesecurity@pokerstars.com <gamesecurity@pokerstars.com>
Subject: Account Security Enhancements - Beta Testing Starting Monday
To: Me
Received: Friday, December 5, 2008, 4:34 AM


Hello,

I'm writing to follow up on the forthcoming PokerStars beta-testing of new
account security enhancements. Let me provide some further information on this.

1) Firstly, in regards to confidentiality, we respect you as an active
participant in the poker community, and you're welcome to tell anyone and
everyone about your participation in this project.

We'll have a series of questions throughout this project seeking your
feedback, and there's nothing secret about this. We're seeking your
honest feedback, so if you do write anything publicly, we'd appreciate if
you let us know so we can read it and address any concerns you might have.

Of course, this is just an initial beta-test, so we expect that not
everything will be perfect. Please keep that in mind, and let us know what we
can improve.

2) There will be two parts of these Account Security Enhancements that will be
visible to you as a player. They are the RSA Security Token and a new
PokerStars PIN.

3) You can read more about RSA Security Tokens generally at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_token

The RSA Security Token will help to combat key loggers by requiring someone
logging into the account to have the RSA Security Token physically with them,
upgrading account security to a 'two factor authentication' - something
you know (your password) and something you have (your token). This will be a
big step forward.

4) In addition, we're going to be enhancing what we currently call our
'Secure ID' and reforming it to be a new 'PokerStars PIN'
(renamed to avoid confusion with the RSA Security Token codes) - this will be
similar to some of the banks that use a keypad that you need to click on the
screen. This won't provide security as strong as the RSA Security Token,
but will be an alternative option for those people that desire something a
little simpler.

5) To get the RSA Security Token to you, we will need to mail it to you.
Please ensure that your mailing address is up to date. To change your mailing
address, select "Account" from the lobby menu
bar, then click on "Change Account", "Change Mailing
Address...".

However players are not permitted to change their country of residence via the
PokerStars software. If you need to change your country of residence, please
email us back with the correct country and we will update your account manually.

6) At any time, please feel free to email gamesecurity@pokerstars.com with any
feedback, comments or queries on this project. That will help our colleagues in
Support pass the email to the right person.

7) We expect that the Windows real money (PokerStars.COM) client will be
deployed at around 8am on Monday December 8, PokerStars Server Time. If you do
not receive an update to your PokerStars client after that time, please run the
file 'PokerStarsUpdate.exe' in your PokerStars program folder (probably
'C:\Program Files\PokerStars\'). Depending on our other
deployments (to the .NET client and the Macintonsh software) it is possible that
the software may be delayed a few hours.

8) The changes will not be immediately apparent in the PokerStars client -
later in the day, once the updated client has been successfully deployed,
I'll set your account privileges to reveal a new option in the
'Account' menu in the PokerStars lobby. It will be titled 'Login
Settings'. It may take several days for the RSA Security Tokens to get to
you, so initially you'll only be able to play around with the new PokerStars
PIN service.

Sincerely,

Michael J
PokerStars Game Security Team

P.S. Other upgrades that will be included in this update of the client
include a beta of a new "Slick" black table theme in two variants;
more time zones support, including PST, GMT and others; Satellite listings in
tournament lobby; Extended options to block tournament announcements; Stage 1 of
new enhancements to reduce Datamining

[AcesUp46]

RSA tokens are a great step forward for Stars. Definitely worth the trouble if you have anything more than like 10K in your account.

[gibler321]

seems a little confusing. i think the mailing thing will be a bad idea.

[AcesUp46]

seems a little confusing. i think the mailing thing will be a bad idea.

That's how a lot of banks are currently doing their Internet banking service. I've been using it for the past couple of years. Also use it to access my company network & email from outside of my office.

Even if the token gets sent to someone else, the person who receives it will not be able to do anything. He needs to know your Stars user ID and password in order to log on.

The RSA tokens are basically an additional layer of security. To log in, you first key in your Stars ID + password. Then you are prompted to key in the number sequence that is currently being displayed on your token. Only then can you access your account. The number sequence changes randomly every minute or so.

[bdc30]

That's a great step forward in the online poker realm. I disagree with whoever said it would be worth it for people with ~10k in their accounts though. This should be the standard for anyone who plays regularly. No matter if your roll is $500, $5000 or $50,000...I'm sure having your computer hacked and your entire roll stolen from you would be a huge pain in the ass. If/when this is rolled out to the masses, I will be very seriously considering moving my play back to stars, rakeback or no rakeback from ftp.

[AcesUp46]

I disagree with whoever said it would be worth it for people with ~10k in their accounts though. This should be the standard for anyone who plays regularly. No matter if your roll is $500, $5000 or $50,000...I'm sure having your computer hacked and your entire roll stolen from you would be a huge pain in the ass.

Someone who has only like $100 in their account would find it a real pain to have to log in using the token, or having to deal with getting a replacement token if they lose it. So for these ppl, I suppose they would prefer to stick to the current method of ID + password. But I do see your point about it being the standard for anyoen who plays regularly.

For Stars, this is actually quite a big decision to take, on whether or not to roll it out to the masses. The benefit is that the player's money is kept safe and he feels secure about it (and about online poker). The downside is that it may turn off new signups as it may be too troublesome to start playing.

Of course, it seems that Stars is taking the route of making it optional, at least for now. So the downside is a non-issue.

Whatever the case is, I'm in full agreement with you that this is a very good thing! It'll only be a matter of a few months before FullTilt and the other major sites start doing the same thing.

[RDog]

I got the same email and will be Beta testing for this as well. I think it is a great step forward and am excited Stars is being very pro-active on security features.

[Moneyball16]

I like this idea very much. I am irrationally paranoid about someone hacking my account.

I wonder if it will cost anything to get this. I hope Stars gives them away free if you have over x amount in your account but even if they don't I cant imagine not getting one.

[RDog]

I like this idea very much. I am irrationally paranoid about someone hacking my account.

I wonder if it will cost anything to get this. I hope Stars gives them away free if you have over x amount in your account but even if they don't I cant imagine not getting one.

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it will cost anything. Stars probably spends a lot of manpower trying to "fix" hacking incidents after the fact so I'm guessing they are thinking long term it will save them money.

[bdc30]

It'll only be a matter of a few months before FullTilt and the other major sites start doing the same thing.

You haven't sent ftp support an email lately have you? Have a look in the FTP updates thread on 2p2 - shit they've been trying to implement for like a year plus is still getting backed up (ring game filter, hand history window, etc). The odds of ftp having anything close to this in place by year end 2009 are NOT good.

[NoSup4U]

Why can't Stars just update their GUI to a reasonable level? I want to switch back so much but I just can't take playing on their interface.

Mark

[TB17]

wait so if you want someone to log on your acct, like in an emergency, you'd have to tell them whats on your token? I'm sorta confused.

[Flushgarden]

As long as it's not too much trouble to log in/create a new account it's a good thing.

[king1305]

wait so if you want someone to log on your acct, like in an emergency, you'd have to tell them whats on your token? I'm sorta confused.

This and..

What if you aren't at home and don't have your token with you or you forgot it before a trip, etc? No play for you?

and +1 to Mark saying if they changed their interface would be moving my play there. Plus let me see the damn cards when the money gets all-in during a cash game. PLEASE.

[Lrgetrout]

wait so if you want someone to log on your acct, like in an emergency, you'd have to tell them whats on your token? I'm sorta confused.

This and..

What if you aren't at home and don't have your token with you or you forgot it before a trip, etc? No play for you?

It sounds like if you choose to use a RSA token, the answer to both of these would be yes. However, it sounds like the RSA token is optional.

EDIT: I could also conceivably see the RSA token setting as toggleable (likely requiring you to enter it again to remove it), so maybe not. In any case, you would at least need the token to turn it off.

Plus let me see the damn cards when the money gets all-in during a cash game. PLEASE.

+1

[mln_falcon]

Why can't Stars just update their GUI to a reasonable level? I want to switch back so much but I just can't take playing on their interface.

Mark

As someone who prefers Stars layout, I always wonder what people want when they say this. About the only thing that FTP does that Stars doesn't that I can remember off the top of my head is have a button that resets the table back to the default size.

[SCYUKON]

I have used the RSA tokens for the last 8 years or so at work. They can be a pain if you don't use them for a while, as they tend to fall out of sync - so then you have to get ahold of someone at stars to "resync" you, so to speak.

At any rate, a good security feature for the higher rollers, no doubt.

[jeff_536]

I find stars relatively customizable as far as the look goes. It's certainly better than the cartoony FTP. I keep mine simple with the black lobby.

The one thing I wish they'd add is F-keys for fold/call/bet or raise (limit games). Poker room had that and I found it very convenient.

[AcesUp46]

I find stars relatively customizable as far as the look goes. It's certainly better than the cartoony FTP. I keep mine simple with the black lobby.

The one thing I wish they'd add is F-keys for fold/call/bet or raise (limit games). Poker room had that and I found it very convenient.

You can download AHK scripts for that.

[Whatever]

I want to switch back so much but I just can't take playing on their interface.

If the speed of hands dealt is relatively the same then you're saying you can't play there because of the LOOK? What???