The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers Read Online Free PDF Page B

preferred another, less demanding method: "Cycle timing for unknown machines out in the field was calculated by reading cards off the screen at two times, many hours apart." He had to verify that the machine had not been played in between, because that would alter the rate of iteration, but that was easy: just check to see that the cards displayed were the same as when he had last been at the machine, which was usually the case since "high stakes machines tended to not be played often."

    When taking the second reading of cards displayed, he would also syn- chronize his Casio timer, and then phone the machine timing data and card sequences back to Larry, who would enter it into their home-base computer and run the program. Based on those data, the computer would predict the time of the next royal flush. "You hoped it was hours; sometimes it was days," in which case they'd have to start all over with another machine, maybe at a different hotel. At this stage, the timing of the Casio might be off as much as a minute or so, but close enough.

    Returning plenty early in case someone was already at the target machine, Alex and Annie would go back to the casino and spend time on other machines until the player left. Then Alex would sit down at the target machine, with Annie at the machine next to him. They'd started playing, making a point of looking like they were having fun. Then, as Alex recalls:

    I'd start a play, carefully synchronized to my Casio timer. When

    the hand came up, I'd memorize it -- the value and suit of each

    of the five cards, and then keep playing until I had eight cards in

    sequence in memory. I'd nod to my wife that I was on my way

    and head for an inconspicuous pay phone just off the casino floor.

    I had about eight minutes to get to the phone, do what I had to

    do, and get back to the machine. My wife kept on playing. 10 The Art of Intrusion

    Anybody who came along to use my machine, she'd just tell them

    her husband was sitting there.

    We had figured out a way of making a phone call to Larry's beeper,

    and entering numbers on the telephone keypad to tell him the cards.

    That was so we didn't have to say the cards out loud -- the casino

    people are always listening for things like that. Larry would again

    enter the cards into the computer and run our program.

    Then I'd phone him. Larry would hold the handset up to the com-

    puter, which would give two sets of little cue tones. On the first

    one, I'd hit the Pause button on the timer, to stop it counting

    down. On the second one, I'd hit Pause again to restart the timer.

    The cards Alex reported gave the computer an exact fix on where the machine's random number generator was. By entering the delay ordered by the computer, Alex was entering a crucial correction to the Casio countdown timer so it would go off at exactly the moment that the royal flush was ready to appear.

    Once that countdown timer was restarted, I went back to the

    machine. When the timer went like "beep, beep, boom" -- right then,

    right on that "boom," I hit the play button on the machine again.

    That first time, I think I won $35,000.

    We got up to the point where we had about 30 or 40 percent suc-

    cess because it was pretty well worked out. The only times it didn't

    work was when you didn't get the timing right.

    For Alex, the first time he won was "pretty exciting, but scary. The pit boss was this scowling Italian dude. I was sure he was looking at me funny, with this puzzled expression on his face, maybe because I was going to the phone all the time. I think he may have gone up to look at the tapes." Despite the tensions, there was "a thrill to it." Mike remembers being "naturally nerv- ous that someone might have noticed odd behavior on my part, but in fact no one looked at me funny at all. My wife and I were treated just as typical high-stakes winners -- congratulated and offered many comps."

    They were so successful that they needed to worry about