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Playboy.com gets hacked
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November 20, 2001: 2:58 p.m. ET
Hackers apparently get access to Web site customers' credit card data.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Hackers broke into Playboy.com last weekend and sent threatening e-mail to the site's customers, apparently containing sensitive credit card information.
Playboy Enterprises spokeswoman Laura Sigman said Tuesday a breach in the site was detected last weekend, before customers began alerting the company to the problem Sunday evening.
In the e-mail message, obtained by CNNfn, the group identified the name, credit card number and expiration date of the customer.
The group, operating under the name "ingreslock 1524," also said it "did have some very big plans" to use the information so that it would result in "over 10 million dollars worth of fraud claims" made to credit card and insurance companies.
But the group appeared to be alerting customers to the fraud in advance of any theft and later in the message implies it meant to "test" computer systems to determine their security. The group added it plans to test Playboy.com again.
In response, Playboy (PLA: down $0.17 to $13.91, Research, Estimates) sent letters to customers advising them to check for unauthorized charges on their credit cards. The company said the FBI is investigating the incident and Playboy also hired investigative agency Kroll Associates.
Playboy, which has firewalls in place, also is conducting an internal check of its logs and servers.
Sigman said the company is trying to determine what percentage of its customers have been affected and the company does not know whether customers' credit cards have been compromised. 
from CNNfn correspondent Fred Katayama
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