Technology has been able to improve online casino security to some remarkable heights, and for good reason. Many casinos today are basically the world’s largest banking operations, performing millions of dollars worth of financial transactions on any given day. Obviously, security is a top priority for these operators.
That’s not to say the online casino industry is 100% safe, but you do hear significantly less data breach stories from the casino industry than you do in healthcare or online retail, for example. While the online casino industry generally got a bad rap in the 90s and early 00s, due to overall poor internet security and proliferation of fraudulent casino sites, things have vastly improved in the modern-day.
Companies like Casumo, an online casino in India, use 128-bit SSL data encryption for customers’ financial details, as well as several other security measures we’ll go over. And of course, online security is always evolving, with things like full-blown artificial intelligence network protection just around the corner.
What modern security measures do online casinos use?
As mentioned above, casinos can perform millions of dollars in transactions within any given period, so they require the latest in security technology. However, customers should also be aware of exactly what security measures an online casino uses, to know how protected they are.
For example, while SSL is touted as a secure browser technology, it often gets confused in the mainstream as being specifically about protecting credit card information, when it isn’t. While SSL does encrypt data between requests – i.e. your laptop sending financial information to the website – SSL certificati on doesn’t guarantee that the website itself isn’t shady, only that it has an SSL certificate. Which are fairly easy to get.
So when you’re considering joining an online casino, make sure to research exactly what kind of security measures they have in place, beyond buzzwords like “128-bit encryption” and “SSL certified”.
Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the more common security technology that online casinos are using today.
Accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method
Cryptocurrency transactions like Bitcoin are much more secure than banks and credit card transfers, because of cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature. Cryptocurrency transactions occur on a technology known as the blockchain, which stores transaction data across millions of “blocks”, which are spread across networks of computers. This means there is no single target for cybercriminals to infiltrate and steal data from, as it would be nigh impossible to manipulate and piece together all of the blocks of data.
There are several theories on how blockchain could be hacked, but it’s all mostly theoretical – it is truly a much more secure, complex, and robust technology than traditional online banking.
Anti-cheating software
Land-based casinos use non-obvious relationship awareness (NORA) software which can determine relations between potentially colluding players and dealers, such as if they’ve ever shared phone numbers, addresses, or other information. The software was proven so effective, Homeland Security adapted it for finding connections between suspected terrorists.
High-end online casinos can also use a form of NORA software, which can help determine whether or not certain players are colluding together at online poker tables, as one example. The rules of Holdem poker are quite fair towards each player when all players are competing against each other at a 10-player table. But if two or more players are colluding together to share their hole cards, it creates an unfair disadvantage to the other players.
Online casinos can use a range of strategies to detect this kind of cheating, such as reviewing game logs, IP addresses of players, and any possible botting software running on the players’ computers. And of course, high-end casinos can use NORA software to dig deeper, such as discovering that Jack and Joe are friends on social media.
Reputation management and know-your-customer software
Reputation management technology is useful to improve casino security, which allows the casino to collect data on players – this includes public forums and social media posts.
This type of software helps to profile online casino players, and assist casinos in blocking potential fraud.
Casinos also employ know-your-customer (KYC) software, which ensures through various forms of identity verification that only the account holder can log in, make deposits, and perform withdrawals.
One example of how KYC software works would be document verification, such as uploading banking documents and personal IDs for the KYC software to review but could also be extended to things like using biometric fingerprints for verifying withdrawal requests.
RSA encryption
RSA encryption is a cryptosystem that is built on asymmetric Bistoin SV cryptography. In basic words, this means the security has two mathematical components – such as two large prime numbers, and an auxiliary value, which creates a public and private key.
The public key is used to identify a transaction, while the private key is used to complete it, or vice versa. This is similar to SSL encryption but at a more advanced level.