Extortion bid failed

A RUSSIAN hacker has attempted to extort upwards of $10 million from Aristocrat Leisure after cracking the spin sequence to several of its poker machines.

The hacker, understood to be a gifted mathematician and computer programmer, also threatened to make his cheat public, in a move he claimed would wreak havoc throughout casinos globally.

Sydney-based Aristocrat confirmed yesterday it was subject to the extortion attempt late last year and had reported the matter to authorities. “Aristocrat is a high-integrity company that has zero tolerance for unethical behaviour. Accordingly, it did not pay, nor has it ever paid, extortion monies,” it said.

The shakedown was revealed earlier this week when US tech bible Wired ran an interview with the hacker.