• Introducing Alex Russian programmer and mathematician, known only as Alex, has been operating a casino-hacking business for around eight years. He discovered his knack for reverse engineering the algorithms that predict how slot games behave a decade ago, when, as a freelance hacker, he was approached by a Russian casino to tweak Novomatic machines down.
• Russian Gang Helps Casino Owners Discover Slot Machine Flaw When casino owners started tracking a Russian gang that was beating slot machines around the world, the owners learned a lot about their.

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Meet the Russian Slot Hacker Behind Slot Machine Exploitation August 7, 2017 Leave a Comment Written by Bob Dancer Wired magazine recently contained an article about a Russian hacker who specializes in turning slot machines into his personal ATM. This is a follow-up story to one that ran about a year ago.

Las Vegas is home to over 197,000 slot machines. That’s roughly one for every three residents. With so many slot machines to choose from, it should be no surprise that you can find some interesting ones hiding around town.

This is especially true in downtown Las Vegas, known to many as “Old Vegas.” Fremont Street specializes in keeping the old-time feel alive. This is where you will find all sorts of buildings, stores, merchandise, and yes, even slot machines from the early days of Las Vegas history.

Below you will find a list of some of the interesting, fun, vintage, or downright weird slot machines you can find in downtown Las Vegas.

Coin-Operated Slot Machines

Coin-operated slots are one of the most sought-after unique slot machines found in Las Vegas. They bring a bit of nostalgia back to the game. These are getting harder to find. Many casinos have a hard time finding parts for repair, which has caused most to get rid of coin-operated slots altogether.

The evolution of our U.S. currency has had a dramatic impact. The D Hotel and Casino has phased out all of its coin operated slot machines. For a place specializing in vintage slots (they have an entire floor devoted to these), why would they do this?

Turns out, the machine’s bill reader cannot recognize our newer versions of U.S. currency in $5 and $20 bills. These bill readers cannot be swapped, and old currency is hard to keep in supply. All of this works out to be too much of a headache for the casino.

With that said, there are still a few places in downtown Las Vegas that offer the chance to play coin-operated slot machines. They are:

• California Hotel and Casino
• El Cortez Hotel and Casino
• Fremont Hotel and Casino
• Main Street Station Hotel and Casino
• Plaza Hotel and Casino

Sigma Derby

Sigma Derby is a retro horse racing game. It made its debut in 1985 and was quite popular at the time. In today’s casinos, it’s nearly impossible to find. Just like coin-operated slot machines, parts for Sigma Derby games are hard to find when the game is in need of repairs.

In addition to having a difficult time keeping the Sigma Derby machines operational, the casinos make a very small profit on them. They are coin operated and run on just a few quarters. The machines also take over a minute to complete one round.

Because of this, almost every Las Vegas casino has done away with Sigma Derby machines. In fact, there is only one such machine in all of downtown Las Vegas. This machine is at The D Hotel and Casino. Or, if you’re willing to venture to the Las Vegas Strip, there is one other Sigma Derby machine located at the MGM Grand.

Silver Strike

Silver Strike slot machines have an incredible fan base. They appeal to both slot machine players and to collectors. This is because, rather than winning cash, you win silver coins. Well, partially silver coins.

The coins used to be .999 silver. Now they are usually a mix of silver and copper. The variance is due to the fact that each casino is responsible for producing their own silver strike coins. This brings in the collector’s aspect, as there are many different coins to try to win.

The machine has a $3.00 max spin, which you must bet to have a chance at the silver coin bonus. If you get a silver strike logo on the third reel, you win a silver strike coin. Most of these coins are worth roughly $10; however, you have a chance at randomly receiving one worth up to $300.

There are varying values within each casino, plus several different casinos offering their own coin variations. The cost associated with producing the silver strike coins has deterred many casinos from carrying the machines. In downtown Las Vegas, there are two casinos who still have the game on their floor:

• The Four Queens Hotel and Casino has four machines
• El Cortez Hotel and Casino has one machine

Jumbo Slot Machine

The Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino is home to one of the largest functioning slot machines in all of Las Vegas. This slot machine is over eight feet tall! It is a 4-reel machine that works in dollar denominations. You will find this slot machine in the lobby by their front entrance. Such a massive machine can draw a lot of attention. It’s not unusual to see a crowd surrounding the machine, watching the player.

It does have an arm mechanism on it; however, this is no longer how the slot machine reels are spun. This is done with a spin button. One old-time aspect that still remains is that the payout from the machine is given in quarters. It’s a fun experience everyone should try once.

Vintage Slot Machines

If you’re looking to see some gambling history, Las Vegas is the place to do it. Even more specifically, looking through downtown Las Vegas, where the city got its start. Fremont Street is where the big casinos of Las Vegas originated. It is where it all began in the evolution of what Las Vegas is today.

This rich history is displayed throughout downtown Las Vegas. One of the crowd favorites in nostalgic merchandise is slot machines. There are two displays featuring retired, vintage slots. These are no longer functional but are still amazing to see. They are located at:

• The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino
• Main Street Hotel and Casino

If you’re looking for a large selection of vintage slot machines you can still play, your go-to destination should be The D Hotel and Casino. Their entire second floor is devoted exclusively to vintage slot machines. While they have all been converted to TITO (Ticket In/Ticket Out) machines, they still maintain the vintage gameplay options.

SlotZilla Zip Line

If you’re looking for unique slot machines that you can wager money on, the SlotZilla slot machine on Fremont Street is not for you. That’s because it’s not actually a slot machine, but a giant model of a slot machine. In fact, it’s the most giant one in the world. The SlotZilla slot machine holds the world record for the largest slot machine, standing at 128 feet tall.

It is truly a sight to see. It doesn’t stop there, though. The SlotZilla machine is actually a zip line. The zip line originates at the top of the 12-story-tall slot machine replica. From there, riders will fly down Fremont Street, just below the lighted canopy. There are two versions you can try: the zip line and the zoom line.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for something slightly different to do in Las Vegas, or simply trying to change up your usual gambling routine, this list has you covered. Everything on this list should be seen once if you’re a fan of slot machines or Vegas history.

Not only will you be able to play some of the oldest functioning slot machines around, but you will also get to see amazing pieces of Las Vegas culture. You can cap it all off with a ride on Vegas’s own slot machine zip line.

LAS VEGAS—In a city filled with slot machines spilling jackpots, it was a 'jackpotted' ATM machine that got the most attention Wednesday at the Black Hat security conference, when researcher Barnaby Jack demonstrated two suave hacks against automated teller machines that allowed him to program them to spew out dozens of crisp bills.

The demonstration was greeted with hoots and applause.

In one of the attacks, Jack reprogrammed the ATM remotely over a network, without touching the machine; the second attack required he open the front panel and plug in a USB stick loaded with malware.

Jack, director of security research at IOActive Labs, focused his hack research on standalone and hole-in-the-wall ATMs—the kind installed in retail outlets and restaurants. He did not rule out that bank ATMs could have similar vulnerabilities, though he hasn't yet examined them.

The two systems he hacked on stage were made by Triton and Tranax. The Tranax hack was conducted using an authentication bypass vulnerability that Jack found in the system's remote monitoring feature, which can be accessed over the Internet or dial-up, depending on how the owner configured the machine.

Tranax's remote monitoring system is turned on by default, but Jack said the company has since begun advising customers to protect themselves from the attack by disabling the remote system.

To conduct the remote hack, an attacker would need to know an ATM's Internet IP address or phone number. Jack said he believes about 95 percent of retail ATMs are on dial-up; a hacker could war dial for ATMs connected to telephone modems, and identify them by the cash machine's proprietary protocol.

The Triton attack was made possible by a security flaw that allowed unauthorized programs to execute on the system. The company distributed a patch last November so that only digitally signed code can run on them.

Both the Triton and Tranax ATMs run on Windows CE.

Using a remote attack tool, dubbed Dillinger, Jack was able to exploit the authentication bypass vulnerability in Tranax's remote monitoring feature and upload software or overwrite the entire firmware on the system. With that capability, he installed a malicious program he wrote, called Scrooge.

Scrooge lurks on the ATM quietly in the background until someone wakes it up in person. It can be initiated in two ways—either through a touch-sequence entered on the ATM's keypad or by inserting a special control card. Both methods activate a hidden menu that allows the attacker to spew out money from the machine or print receipts. Scrooge will also capture track data embedded in bank cards inserted into the ATM by other users.

To demonstrate, Jack punched the keys on the typed to call up the menu, then instructed the machine to spit out 50 bills from one of four cassettes. The screen lit up with the word 'Jackpot!' as the bills came flying out the front.

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To hack the Triton, he used a key to open the machine's front panel, then connected a USB stick containing his malware. The ATM uses a uniform lock on all of its systems—the kind used on filing cabinets—that can opened with a $10 key available on the web. The same key opens every Triton ATM.

Two Triton representatives said at a press conference after the presentation that its customers preferred a single lock on systems so they could easily manage fleets of machines without requiring numerous keys. But they said Triton offers a lock upgrade kit to customers who request it—the upgraded lock is a Medeco pick-resistant, high-security lock.

Similar malware attacks were discovered on bank ATMs in Eastern Europe last year. Security researchers at Trustwave, based in Chicago, found the malware on 20 machines in Russia and Ukraine that were all running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. They said they found signs that hackers were planning on bringing their attacks to machines in the US The malware was designed to attack ATMs made by Diebold and NCR.

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Those attacks required an insider, such as an ATM technician or anyone else with a key to the machine, to place the malware on the ATM. Once that was done, the attackers could insert a control card into the machine’s card reader to trigger the malware and give them control of the machine through a custom interface and the ATM’s keypad.

The malware captured account numbers and PINs from the machine’s transaction application and then delivered it to the thief on a receipt printed from the machine in an encrypted format or to a storage device inserted in the card reader. A thief could also instruct the machine to eject whatever cash was inside the machine. A fully loaded bank ATM can hold up to $600,000.

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Earlier this year, in a separate incident, a Bank of America employee was charged with installing malware on his employer's ATMs that allowed him to withdraw thousands of dollars without leaving a transaction record.

Jack was slated to give the same ATM vulnerability talk at Black Hat last year, but his then-employer Juniper Networks canceled the talk weeks before the conference after an unnamed ATM vendor expressed concern. He said on Wednesday that the earlier talk was withdrawn to allow Triton time to implement a patch to address the code-execution vulnerability targeted in his demonstration. The company released the patch eight months ago.

Jack said that so far he's examined ATMs made by four manufacturers and all of them have vulnerabilities. 'Every ATM I've looked at allows that ‘game over.' I'm four for four,' he said at the press conference. He wouldn't discuss the vulnerabilities in the two ATMs not attacked on Wednesday because he said his previous employer, Juniper Networks, owns that research.

Jack said his aim in demonstrating the hacks is to get people to look more closely at the security of systems that are presumed to be locked down and impenetrable.

Russian Hackers Found Out Las Vegas Slot Machines

(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)