A server which provides game play services, such as game play services associated with progressive games, is described. The server provides the game play services to remote gaming machines via a network protocol and a network interface. The server is configured to monitor the network connections associated with the network protocol in real-time to ensure that only valid processes executing on the server are utilizing the network connections. In one embodiment, software ports, associated with the network protocol and utilized to provide the game play services, are monitored. The monitoring can prevent malicious programs from utilizing the network connections for fraudulent purposes.