CREDIT CARD INFORMATION LEAKED FROM USERS OF STARWAVE SITES

          Online consumers received an anonymous e-mail telling
     them their credit card numbers had been accessed through
     Seattle-based Starwave's online NBA and ESPN SportsZone
     merchandise stores, according to Rebecca Smullin of the
     SEATTLE TIMES.  It was not done by "a whiz-kid hacker," but
     instead, "somebody used a company password" to access the
     information.  Starwave has closed its online NBA store until
     "customers understand what happened," and Starwave President
     and Chief Technology Officer Patrick Naughton "expects the
     site to be back up in a week."  The "breach does not affect
     credit-card numbers transmitted with ESPN SportsZone
     subscription orders" (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/9).  The e-mail
     message, which included the last eight digits of each
     recipient's credit card number "as proof," was signed by "an
     anonymous organization seeking to make the Internet a safe
     place for the consumer to do business" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/10).