Originally posted on 03/13/2013:

No, the books do not secure themselves on the same level as banks. Then again, they don't need to.

First, because part of the business is based on credit.
A credit book (or PPH) usually does not have any info from the players except the username/password combination.
The only risk then is an unauthorized person using the account and (worst case) losing money.
This can usually be confirmed by doing some IP checks by the book and remove the transactions.

Second, because the vast majority of the post up books don't keep any CC info on their systems.
They use payment processors that take care of this. This means that once you are logged in on the sportsbooks
website and you want to post up by CC, that page is actually encrypted.
sometimes it is already the page of the payment processor used by the book.

Security is also the main reason why books are doing an audit when they pay you out.
By making sure the money is only sent to you, an unauthorized person has nothing to gain from getting in your account.

Now the exception is poker. Using your money on a poker network,
it is possible to lose your money to the 'right person' at another book.
This is why a lot of books don't like the poker as they will have to pay the network, no matter what.
They will give you a hard time if unauthorized access abused money on the poker network.

Of course there are security incidents with books, but none that they want to be outed in public.
The worst problem is security incidents that involve the help of their own employees.

As to getting good IT personnel, do you really think IT personnel is only educated in the USA?
The companies are operating LEGALLY where they are located.
Do you really think these companies pay bad when they need someone to run a good stable operation?