Meet Alex: Russian hacker decrypts slot machine algorithm

A Russian mathematician, programmer and graduate of the FSB Academy has unraveled the algorithm by which slot machines work.

In an interview with the American edition of Wired, the hacker under the pseudonym "Alex" said that after decrypting the algorithm of slot machines, he earns 250,000 USD per week.

Alex was able to understand the principles better known as pseudorandom number generators or PRNG (Pseudorandom number generator), the defining model for playing games in slot machines. His three agents travel to casinos around the world, from Poland to Macau and then to Peru in search of the machines whose PRNGs Alex has deciphered. The so-called employees record the operation of the slot machines and send the videos to their "mentor" to determine the odds of winning.

Interestingly, the selected agents do not have any special skills, moreover, they are not even notified about the mechanism, and the "training" takes only two hours. The "hero" himself claims that he values caution more than anything else in his employees.

Alex is looking for people who, in his words, "understand the importance of secrecy in their actions and general behavior" while "appearing respectable enough not to arouse unnecessary suspicion". And in case of arrest, the organization guarantees legal assistance.

A Russian man has demanded an eight-figure ransom from Australian slot machine developer Aristocrat Leisure for allegedly hacking their PRNG. He also said he would put the company's algorithms online if he refused. But the company refused the deal, citing that their pseudo-random number generator security system is robust. After this story, we should not exclude the possibility that Alex did not actually hack anything, but is engaged in fraud, but we must admit that he does it very professionally.

In an interview with Wired, Alex also said that sometimes he dreams of putting the hacked algorithm in the public domain, but, of course, after his departure from such a "lucrative business". The hacker himself thinks that such actions will lead to a "zombie apocalypse" and the eradication of slot machines as a phenomenon.

Source : https://www.wired.com/