On Sunday, programmers for the popular CEREUS Network fixed a security issue after implementing OpenSSL for client-server communication. The custom-based XOR encryption appears to be no more.
PokerTableRatings.com, which first reported that players’ hole cards could potentially be hacked via a wireless network, posted in an update on Sunday, “We can confirm that SSL is now being used everywhere for CEREUS. The login vulnerability no longer exists. We’re now ensuring a proper implementation, but it seems like the biggest problems have been addressed.” The security issue originally came to light on May 6th, when PokerTableRatings.com officials were able to hack a test account. The site claimed that CEREUS’ XOR encryption could be deciphered using a standard Windows calculator.
PokerTableRatings.com advised players to avoid the CEREUS Network entirely until the OpenSSL system was fully implemented. Last Friday, CEREUS developers introduced OpenSSL. However, the encryption was only used to protect hole cards and bets. Consequently, PokerTableRatings.com staff was still able to hack a test account “by sniffing the network.” CEREUS was alerted and, one day later, issued a fix.
A blog posted on Sunday by Tokwiro Chief Operating Officer Paul Leggett updated readers on the status of the OpenSSL implementation: “Today we released an updated version of our CEREUS Poker software. This new version completes the implementation of OpenSSL encryption for all of our Client-Server communication. We are now having PokerTableRatings and a third party auditor verify that the implementation is complete.” The results of the audit were to be made available in the coming days.
Perhaps in part because of the security issue, cash game traffic on the CEREUS Network dipped last week. In the May 9th update of the PokerScout.com site rankings, the CEREUS Network had dropped from the sixth busiest worldwide to ninth in terms of real money ring game traffic. In today’s update, the network had bounced back to eighth place worldwide, boasting a seven-day running average of 1,940 real money ring game players with a 24-hour peak of more than 3,300.
Over the first 16 days of April, cash game traffic on the CEREUS Network featured a daily average maximum of 3,473 players. During the same period in May, that number has slipped to 3,154, a drop of around 9%. The network’s online poker rooms, UB.com and Absolute Poker, happily accept players from the United States.
Over the weekend, the $215 buy-in $200,000 Guaranteed played out on the CEREUS Network. The high-stakes Sunday Major featured a field of 903 players, meaning that the tournament boasted an overlay of nearly $20,000. In the end, Joe “ender555” Ebanks defeated Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy heads-up to claim the $45,000 top prize. Collopy took home a $27,000 consolation prize and the top 90 players finished in the money.
UB.com’s team of sponsored pros includes 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth, and “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok. The group also features reigning CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, recent European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo Main Event winner Liv Boeree, and former “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle.
Among those coming to UB.com and Absolute Poker’s defense on Sunday was PocketFives.com poster “Brighttail,” who argued, “They were alerted, they responded in a post from the COO and in posts here and 2+2. They followed up with a few updates and more posts. I’m still going to wait to see if they release their third party agencies that apparently tested this new software to see if these companies will post publicly their findings and put their own reputation on the line that they couldn’t crack this new code.”
No further update was available from PokerTableRatings.com at the time of writing.
I dont care what they claim,they are already crooks in my book. Their founder is a crook and anyone that plays there must be an idiot.