E-Trade Critical Flaw: Customer Account Access Risk Identified

A freelance Internet security expert said he found a potential cybernightmare in online broker E-Trade Group's Internet operations -- a programming flaw that could have given hackers easy access to customer accounts.. . . A freelance Internet security expert said he found a potential cybernightmare in online broker E-Trade Group's Internet operations -- a programming flaw that could have given hackers easy access to customer accounts.

Jeffrey Baker, a San Francisco computer programmer who hunts for Internet security problems in his spare time, claimed malicious computer jockeys could get a customer's user name and password simply by stealing a ``cookie.' Those are hidden files that Web sites place on visitors' computers that are used to track return visits.

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