Grandmasters--or online vandals?

The "Game of Kings" could become a game for hackers.

Three researchers at the University of Colorado have published a paper on how to bypass security measures used by the Internet Chess Club to protect the integrity of chess games played on the company's servers.

The ICC, which claims to be "where grandmasters play online chess," has more than 30,000 members, including GMs and international chess champions.

The trio claimed to have reverse engineered the chess client for Linux in 65 hours, allowing a user to reduce the time that the PC application registered for their move. Such cheating would enable players to have more time than their opponents to consider moves during a game. Moreover, the researchers also found ways that an active attacker could basically take control of the program, introducing chess moves that differ from those that the challenger indicates.

While the researchers did not release their tools, until the company fixes the flaws, ICC chess players may have to settle for being pawns in a game of online security.