Online Casino Gambling News - by Gamblers Lodge

After William Hill’s recent battle with Russian high-tech computer extortionists who were bribing the online casino to pay up thousands of dollars to keep their online service operating, there has been much talk about the increasing problem of botnets.

Botnets are like hidden remote-controlled devices that load themselves onto computers, and then propagate whatever program they are running onto the computer itself – usually a malicious program designed for identity theft, spam, or viruses. In the case of online casinos, hordes of botnets are being used at one time to overload servers to casino websites by sending hundreds of thousands of random messages, thereby disrupting service to online gamblers.

For William Hill it meant a 30% decrease in betting action on their website. However, William Hill wasn’t about to meet the criminals demands. Instead, they took the initiative in tracking down the crime ring, which ended up putting at least two men in jail.

The main concern now is that since online gambling sites are starting to fight back, the botnet offensive is going to increase and become more of a problem. And although there is some virus protection software helping to ease the threat, there are an estimated 30,000 new botnets created each day on the web.

Many PC’s are acting as botnets themselves, acting as slaves to remote command programs, which prompt the computers to spread their malicious tactics and programs. Even more concerning is the underground ring of hackers and high-tech criminals who share information and even publications with each other, advising how to create even stealthier botnets.

Amidst all the concern, many an online casino like William Hill is preparing to deal with more extortion threats, downed websites and used up bandwidth. What they are hoping is to bring those responsible to justice by fighting back with just as sophisticated or better means as the criminals themselves use.