Internet/Betfair security in a hotel abroad - what should I do?

Where are you going in the Caribbean if you don't mind me asking?

just open another account, minimum balance levels just for the trip

wots the worst that can happen............

It should be fairly safe if you connect through a wire.
  Wireless connection is much more dire though.

Oh dear...

The safest way is to leave a computer on at home and remote desktop to it from the Carribean.

Plenty of tutorials on how to set it up on the net.

I wouldn't be accessing my account from the Carribean directly.

er, thru the wireless connection, as above

Oh dear

Deltâ
Date Joined: 12 Mar 02
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just open another account, minimum balance levels just for the trip

wots the worst that can happen............


Seems like a decent suggestion

isnt the https encryption safe enough on wireless?

I tried to place a bet on Betfair while in Barbados. The computer wouldn't let me, as I said I was in an unauthorised country. So I used my phone, no problems there.

The HTTPS encryption that Betfair use on the main site isn't good enough, since not all the pages are HTTPS. Wireless or wired, people can get access to your account. Don't use Betfair's website on a hotel network or free wifi!

However, 3rd-party applications (and Betfair's own mobile application) use the API to communicate with Betfair, and that is fully encrypted, which makes them safe to use.

lol..the OP isn't going over to Barbados at all

Mr Magoo
15 Feb 12 08:50 Joined: 28 Mar 05 | Topic/replies: 684 | Blogger: Mr Magoo's blog
The HTTPS encryption that Betfair use on the main site isn't good enough, since not all the pages are HTTPS. Wireless or wired, people can get access to your account. Don't use Betfair's website on a hotel network or free wifi!

However, 3rd-party applications (and Betfair's own mobile application) use the API to communicate with Betfair, and that is fully encrypted, which makes them safe to use.

My email account was hacked (almost certainly through mobile phone use). Since then I've not used a mobile device to log into Betfair, and I now have 2-step verification for my email account.

what is a 2 step verification? u have 2 passwords when u log in?

Google's 2-step verification is a good thing, definitely. (henok: it works with a separate 'key' device, or an app you install on your phone, that provides a code number that you must enter when you log in with your password. Anyone who is managing to listen in on your communications can't re-use this code number because it changes every few seconds)

So many ways to hack an email account... or maybe hack your entire phone. But the Betfair mobile app is still more secure than other ways of using the site.

YOU NEED TO GO TO GAMBLERS ANNONOMOUSE IF YOUR GOING TO THE CARRABIAN AND YOU CANT LEAVE BETFAIR ALONE FOR AWHILE ,

I LOVE YOUR SORT THE WORLD AT YOUR FEET ,AND ALL YOUR  BOTHERED ABOUT IS HOW DO I GET ON BETFAIR

AND DONT TELL ME YOU WANT TO RELAX AND HAVE A FLUTTER ON BETFAIR ,AS I BELIEVE YOU ,BUT THE PARROT ON MY SHOULDER DOESNT

DONT YOU THINK YOU SPEND ENOUGH TIME ON IT ,WITHOUT MESSING EVERYBODYS HOLIDAY UP ON BETFAIR

My email account was hacked (almost certainly through mobile phone use). Since then I've not used a mobile device to log into Betfair, and I now have 2-step verification for my email account.

Odds on you clicked on something, maybe a spoof password update or opened a file.
99% of the time this is how it happens on phones.
Sometimes if you click on a link it installs a program via php without you even knowing.
People must learn to become smart along with their phones.
Never click anything related to passwords or links unless you know 100% it is genuine.

For example, a mate of mine said he was checking his gmail on his phone and he was asked to update his password.
As soon as he entered the information, his whole phone shut down and his account was hacked and sending the same thing to all his contacts.
His phone hasn't been right since and almost all his contacts are now in the same position.

I asked him why he didn't just close the email and login to his account and check his account management to see if it was actually a request from Gmail. He looked at me blankly like I had two heads.

In this day and age, hackers are having a field day because people just won't be bothered to check things out properly.

Hmpf! What do Google know about computers? Don't they realise that two-step authentication actually makes it easier for hackers? And to make matters worse they offer full https access too...

Mr.Anderson
Date Joined: 07 Oct 10
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Hmpf! What do Google know about computers? Don't they realise that two-step authentication actually makes it easier for hackers? And to make matters worse they offer full https access too...


Nice joke.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. A bit busy to reply properly, but a brief response to some points:

- Grand Cayman
- This is what I do for a living, so not really something I can do with a couple of hundred quid in a new account
- Maybe this is a good time to look at tha API stuff if that is more secure
- I never use Betfair on a mobile phone.
- Maybe I should take a week off. Going to have very little spare time over there (friend's wedding & stag), and I never take time off.

why not just take 2 weeks off 'work' ?

you wouldn't work for 52 weeks a year for Joe Bloggs unless you're like me and have an enforced break during the soccer season

I'm posting from Vietnam :p

Friend's wedding and staggie and you are worrying about being able to log on to BF.    Worry about your priorities in life a bit more would be my advice

On my home computer I have a macro set up using a tool called Macro Express which automatically opens Betfair and logs me in.  So it just needs a click to run. Then I use Logmein free version to log in to my home PC from abroad and activate the macro with a click. With logmein I have a set of once only security codes to log into my logmein account, in addition to having to input 3 different letters of a password to access the PC.

So even if someone is looking at my screen when I'm logging in or using a keylogger in an internet cafe, they won't be able to hack my account.

What's your IP address?

ffs...the OP isn't going to the Caribbean or anywhere else in the next few weeks

PUT A LOCK ON YOUR DOOR

Feb 19, 2012 -- 4:24PM, Do wah Diddy wrote:

PUT A LOCK ON YOUR DOOR

Locks can be broken into so what's the point? It just means extra fiddling about with keys when you want to get in yet  solve nothing.  The only way to ensure you're not burgled, obviously, is to live without any possessions at all but most people are too stupid to realise this.

Yup, locking your door or installing an alarm system does not help against burglary. On the contrary it is good for the burglars! You see fifty years ago few people locked their doors at night, and nobody had any alarm system! Yet the burglary rate was low. Then people started to lock their doors and install alarm systems and as a result the burglary rate has increased dramatically! People are so stupid. Sad really.

That's not the reason ffs. Nobody had anything to steal in those days...

All they had was Spam. And for the kiddies out there, Spam used to be something you ate, usually forced upon you by your parents at tea time. Yeah yeah I know what your thinking, why didn't I just divorce them or give them a slap, but you see not so long ago kids used to actually respect their elders or it would be them that got a slap! Imagine that, respecting others!

Customer:
Morning,

Waitress:
Morning.

Customer:
What have you got?

Waitress:
Well, there's egg and bacon,
egg sausage and bacon
Egg and spam
Egg, bacon and spam
Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam tomato and spam
Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam
Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam.

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!)

Or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce
served in a provencale manner with shallots and aubergines
garnished with truffle pate, brandy and a fried egg on top and spam.

Wife:
Have you got anything without spam?

Waitress:
Well, the spam, eggs, sausage and spam
That's not got much spam in it

Wife:
I don't want any spam!

Customer:
Why can't she have eggs, bacon, spam and sausage?

Wife:
That's got spam in it!

Customer:
Hasn't got much spam in it as spam, eggs, sausage and spam has it?

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam!...)

Wife:
Could you do me eggs, bacon, spam and sausage without the spam, then?

Waitress:
Iiiiiiiiiiiich!!

Wife:
What do you mean 'Iiiiiiiiiich'? I don't like spam!

(Choir: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!)

Waitress (to choir):
Shut up!

(Choir: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!)

Waitress:
Shut Up! Bloody Vikings!
You can't have egg, bacon, spam and sausage without the spam.

Wife:
I don't like spam!

Customer:
Shush dear, don't have a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it,
I'm having spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans,
spam, spam, spam, and spam!

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!)

Waitress:
Shut Up!! Baked beans are off.

Customer:
Well, could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then?

Waitress:
You mean spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam,
spam and spam?

Choir (intervening):
Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam!
Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam.
Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!
Spam spam spam spam!

The clowns have been let out of the asylum again.
The analogy is not the same.

But I've given up, you can't educate the 95% who lose, whether it's here or elsewhere.
They'll never get it, even if you try and explain it kindergarten style.

Just about everyone will be burgled once in their lifetime.
A lock will not stop it.

So if the clowns want to keep all their posessions at home along with expensive jewellry, their Ferrari in the loungeroom and all their cash under the bed, then it's a matter of time before they lose the lot.
Lock or no lock.

Leave the deed to the house and your driver's licence on the kitchen table too.

After all, a lock should do the trick!

Looks like we all agree that you should not keep anything valuable at home and that locks or alarm systems don't solve anything! I for one am sitting at a Pentium II with a 24 inch CRT monitor weighing 55 kg! Those new flat screen monitors that some stupid people have are like candy to burglars!

Now the mistake that a lot of not so intelligent people make is that they keep their valuables in bank vaults! Most banks don't even have any security guards. They just rely on locks and alarm systems to keep thieves out! As if locks and alarm systems could offer any meaningful protection. Bank vaults can be broken into. Locks and alarm systems don't solve anything!

A better solution would of course be to hide your valuables in the forests or at the bottom of the sea. But don't keep all in one place. I recommend at least a dozen different stashes to minimize your risk. Then you can relax and laugh at the thieves with their lock picks and crowbars:)

Now the mistake that a lot of not so intelligent people make is that they keep their valuables in bank vaults! Most banks don't even have any security guards. They just rely on locks and alarm systems to keep thieves out! As if locks and alarm systems could offer any meaningful protection. Bank vaults can be broken into. Locks and alarm systems don't solve anything!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/30/paris-robbers-dig-bank

Oh god, it's worse than I thought.
How do you people manage to even function?

WRITE ON THE LAPTOP IN INVISABLE INK THIS LAP TOP BELONGS TO TEMPLETON PEACOCK ,PUT YOUR ADDRESS AS WELL AND IF INTERPOLL FIND IT THEY MIGHT RING YOU UP

YES ALSO PUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER

I don't even have the internet because I don't know what it is

So many helpful posts but the award goes to the guys who talk about the remote log-in stuff such as:

------

I am the one and only223
18 Feb 12 12:15 Joined: 06 Aug 09 | Topic/replies: 844 | Blogger: I am the one and only223's blog
On my home computer I have a macro set up using a tool called Macro Express which automatically opens Betfair and logs me in.  So it just needs a click to run. Then I use Logmein free version to log in to my home PC from abroad and activate the macro with a click. With logmein I have a set of once only security codes to log into my logmein account, in addition to having to input 3 different letters of a password to access the PC.

So even if someone is looking at my screen when I'm logging in or using a keylogger in an internet cafe, they won't be able to hack my account.

------

But I'm taking a week off.  Won't exactly have much free time to work whilst out there and so I may as well let some of you guys profit in my absence.

One final question.  With these remote log-ins, is Betfair any slower than if you logged in directly?

Betfair isn't but the overall experience will be

Templeton, DO NOT DO WHAT HE DOES FULL STOP!

A hacker who gets into port 3389 or any other has all his betfair information. Look in any event log and you can see the hackers with random generators from India and Russia trying all day and all night to get in. They have open port scanners and will put your ip address on the huge list they have.
Any hacker can find a macro instantly.
Or he will log into the account, change the password, and transfer your funds.
All unbeknown to you.
He also has your name address phone number email and credit card details all through a macro.
Couldn't be easier!

Am I right in assuming that I am immune from key loggers using my iPad?

BTO

Can you clarify exactly what you are cautioning against. Is it the fact that he is using a macro or is it that he is accessing his pc through a public PC?

I am assuming that you don’t think it is unsafe to use logmein between two trusted (ie secure) PC’s?

Am I right in assuming that I am immune from key loggers using my iPad?

At this point in time, yes.

Is it the fact that he is using a macro or is it that he is accessing his pc through a public PC?

I am assuming that you don’t think it is unsafe to use logmein between two trusted (ie secure) PC’s?

If he is using a public pc, then he is not safe.
If he is using a trusted pc then he is reasonably safe.
The macro is a very bad idea, if someone gets in, (and they are trying all the time because the port is open), then they have an instant in to all your account details.
The risk is not worth it to be honest.

Hi BTO. I'm always open to good advice in keeping myself secure from anybody gaining unauthorised access to my pc. Are you saying that leaving my PC turned on is what leaves me vulnerable to these hackers?  In which case you're saying that no remote access method is infallible because the PC by necessity has to be left turned on?

But without the log in Windows user account password how would they access the PC remotely?  If that's so easy to get round why does Microsoft have these accounts if they're a waste of time?

The macro I use is just a series of keystrokes. It's an anonymous file hidden in a directory of  thousands of files. The chances of someone working out that it's a log in to Betfair in particular are pretty small. And that's after they have to guess my account login password for the PC, which is pretty unlikely anyway. Whereas the chances of my account details being hacked by a keylogger/camera in an internet cafe in Tirana where I was last year I would say were quite a bit higher.

I think you are greatly underestimating the abilities of a successful hacker.
Of course it comes down to how much they can get their hands on, but once they get in, they have everything.
They have hacked the FBI, CIA, major banks, even The Whitehouse, they look for anything that might be a lead to something else.
A visual basic file, a cookie, a macro program, an excel macro, etc etc. They know to look from various files, emails, internet history etc etc.

This is the exact reason I keep no more than x amount in Betfair at any time, no more than x amount in my bank account at any time, and have many various bank accounts.

As to passwords for remote access, I used to have for example "Helen1" after what I've seen it is now "234962Helen827364" as an example.
Make sure your password is extremely complex but something you can identify.

I know of a case where a woman received a fake call from the local Council asking what her dog's name was, as they had some report. It was a hacker who traced the ip address to the street number and her password prompt was the dog's name.
She got all her money back from the bank, but they emptied everything and got loans using her identity.
She is still fighting to remove the bad debts from her credit record.

Also, change your passwords routinely.  I change all sensitive passwords every month and I have a systematic way of remembering them so they are not written down anywhere.  Also, if I feel I could have exposed my details by using a public connection or hotel wifi for example, I change any passwords used as as soon as I get back home, 

I do the same with credit cards, getting a new one after a foreign trip for example, and monitoring my account closely at times when it is at more risk.

Also, I am more inclined to use sites with good security features than those without and in the case of Betfair, try to put pressure on them to improve.

Good advice there.
It's off topic, but in a similar theme.
I had occasion to have to sort out someone's affairs who passed away quicker than expected. They had no friends or family except for two young children as they were immigrants.
It was a mammoth effort to find out what funds were available and where and gain access to distribute funds for funeral costs and utility bills in the interim.
It really hit home to me, that should I meet an untimely demise, my family knows very little. Most of the important stuff is in the old noggin, so anyone trying to administer my affairs wouldn't know where to start.

A Will does not cover important information, just estate control and distribution.
It's worse for those who are single with children etc.

After being shaken up somewhat to the reality of what can occur, I have given my sister and daughter an updated envelope of important information including usernames and passwords they would need. There is a spreadsheet on my computer with institution names and a code number next to it.
They just need to match the code with the institution and they have access.
The envelope on it's own is useless, the spreadsheet on it's own is useless.
The two together give them everything they need to find and access everything.
I know it's a bit Angels and Demons, but I'd hate my daughter or sister to have to go to the lengths I had to in an emotional state.
Food for thought.

Cheers BTO, I did something similar a couple of years ago and your post has reminded me that it needs updating!