Last week federal indictments against members of a Russian gang  alleged to be led by Razhden Shulaya were unsealed in New York.  While many of the indictments were for common racketeering crimes you would expect, the defendants were also accused of developing devices to hack into particular models of slot machines to predict the machine’s behavior thereby enabling the criminal to steal money from particular slot machines.
Long gone are the days of the old-styled one arm bandit slot machines. Today’s slot machines are operated by sophisticated computers and programmed to make pay offs of specific amounts.  This is actually a good thing as all states regulate slot machines  and require that casinos that have slot machines pay a statutorily set minimum pay off for the entire casino.
TIPS
Just about everything we do is computerized and often connected to the Internet in some fashion.  This is what we refer to as the Internet of Things and whether it is a talking doll, a car, a medical device or a smart television, anything that is computerized and connected to the Internet is a potential target for hackers.  This is important for all of us to remember when we use items that are a part of the Internet of Things.  We should make sure that passwords and security settings for these devices are not left on default and are as secure as we can make them.  It only takes a little time to do so and it is well worth it.