Monday, November 26, 2001		Article

LAW enforcement officials are investigating a security breach at the Playboy.com Website that allowed a computer hacker to steal customers’ credit card numbers, a Playboy.com spokeswoman told Reuters last week.

The company was alerted to the problem this weekend after network administrators noticed a lot of unusual activity on their servers, Playboy.com spokeswoman Laura Sigman said.

Playboy.com is trying to determine how many customers have been affected and has hired a computer security firm to audit the systems, she said.

In a letter to customers, Playboy.com President Larry Lux urged people to contact their credit card companies to determine if their cards have been used for any unauthorised purchases.

"Unfortunately, Playboy is only one of a number of high-profile companies who have been subjected to this kind of malicious hacking," Lux said.

Someone belonging to a group called "ingreslock 1524" and using the alias "martyn luther ping" e-mailed a letter to customers claiming responsibility for the crime and provided the customer’s name and credit card number as proof.

The letter said the "shady hacker group" has had full access to the Playboy.com network since 1998.

"We did have some very big plans to use the hundreds of thousands of customer details" to purchase products from numerous online companies, "thus resulting in over $10 million worth of fraud claims being made to credit card and, in turn, insurance companies globally," the letter said. The e-mail also listed a number of warnings for online customers and companies, including "do not trust companies with your details online." Playboy.com, which is based in New York, is part of Playboy Enterprises.