Hacks happen. Every system can and will be hacked no matter what you do theoretically given enough time. You have to have the assumption that it will happen so that the "damage" when it does is minimal. Most of the time when this happens I would say that it does because of zero-day exploit crap on system software. So what exactly are these people doing wrong? That's the problem... probably nothing.. they're as dependent on the coders of their MySQL server as you are on the coders of your OS. You can control your code, but you typically have little to no control of the underlying systems. People don't hack your application they hack on the backend stuff...

They do not have to adhere to the information standards that financial companies do... And, it's probably good.. because some of the smaller gaming companies could never afford it.

My handy reference guide for online gaming:

1) Change all your information to complete and utter BS. Store your BS information somewhere so you can parrot it back if you have to call support.
2) Pay with game cards. If you can pick them up at Walmart even better. But, you can buy codes online.
3) Nothing to lose now... So you don't care if they are hacked.

Just my 2 cents.

It's not ethnic cleansing if they're trying to kill you, it's called self-defense! Stop giving these retards a home, and a forum. Shut 'em down. They can believe whatever they want until they start shaking their fists at folks.If we dropped one bomb every time one of these guys started threatening people I'm sure it'd stop really fast. They are doing it because >we are allowing it. You don't want to get taken out? Don't stand with the fist shaker. It's not about religion it's about their constant threats and terror campaigns.

If the books go much over $10 on average there will be a lot of money to be made this way, and I was worried that the e-books are going to take over. Sure, the reference books will still be more useful likely in an electronic form but they're certainly cutting their throats here. Most of the mass-market paperbacks have already been overpriced on Amazon Kindle (a typically $7.99 book going for $9.99) and are teetering on that brink of not being worth the price. The Kindle is still a handy PDF reader, but the IPad can do that as well so who knows who will win here. Honestly, I'd pay $2 extra on every book if I could have a pdf on cd attached to the physical book.. but that's just me.

Credentials aren't really the issue, as your gate keeper here is parsing traffic to see it if is malware related. It's actually more effective to do it this way than to push a solution to desktops. I rather have something at the door so I have the option of cutting off all the traffic in one swoop. The credentials just keep the not-as-smart stuff from immediately having access. Security is about tiers. You put an internet security package and AV on your desktops and servers, you make them run through a proxy that scans the traffic going through the wall, and likely run and Intrusion detection solution on both sides of the wall to see threats real time. You need more than one layer because at any point in time one of these layers will fail. The only way to have fail-safe is through stacking solutions unfortunately.

This also allows you to run the firewall as "deny all" which is far more secure than any other configuration.

Depending on your network topology you might be able to solve this by just adding one proxy/caching server to the mix. Proxy allows port 80 html traffic but doesn't allow other programs to bootleg themselves as something running on 80 to connect as there generally is application protocol checking. Firewalls do not remove the need for an application/proxy server in this mess and do not replace it as without that function you still have machines directly connecting to remote hosts and are still vulnerable. Firewall all traffic off both ways at the firewall and only allow traffic originating from the proxy to transverse the screen. Bot programs already on hosts thus have lost access to anything, and you are pushing your proxy list down via group policies to the client machines. And no, you don't need Linux to do this despite what I see other people commenting. Linux is more secure in most cases due to obscurity, but it is not the same thing as Windows and expecting your user base to use it is like cutting off one of their arms and asking them to do the same work. Properly implementing your windows security is all that is required and it probably would be easier to add one machine to fix all of your problems than to wipe all the machines in your office and load Linux wouldn't it?

I really feel this is just typical of the socialist doctrine that has inundated our country and violated ever tenant this country was created upon. Gambling in all cases is a victimless crime as you have lost only what you have wagered. I'm American and I don't need someone when to tell me to go to bed, what to eat, where to stand, or whether or not I decide to gamble. All of these "notions" of legislation are really the tools of slow-witted bible-thumping scum that would have us give up every freedom we enjoy for THEIR version of right and wrong. I'm sorry, but that's not what this country is about and if you don't like it LEAVE. This country was founded on tolerance and the right to do as you chose provided you aren't harming anyone else. Who am I or anyone else to tell anyone what to do? Where does someone else get that right verses someone else? Screw that judged! I don't care where those domains are located what he's talking about is theft approved by the government and I can't stand by it. Everyone supports the idea of "home rule" in relation to states, but stupid rulings like that make me reconsider someone needs to keep this crap in check. Remember that every ruling like this has a potential to set a precedent and become the basis of federal laws. Honestly, what they are doing is completely unconstitutional; the government has no right to anything of yours regardless of the circumstances unless it is in the case of public use and then you must be properly compensated.