On-line porn purveyor Playboy.com has been penetrated by hackers who stole customer records including credit card details, the company says.

Someone claiming to be part of the data heist who calls himself 'martyn luther ping' contacted numerous victims via e-mail with proof that their Playboy accounts had been hacked. The author wisely cautioned against trusting on-line companies with such confidential information.

In the memo, company President Larry Lux explained to his customers that "Playboy is only one of a number of high-profile companies who have been subjected to this kind of malicious hacking."

We couldn't agree more. There's a lot of slack security on the Web, and Playboy certainly shouldn't be blamed for being one among thousands. ®