[Martha]

I read another article in Business Week this morning. Invasion of the Stock Hackers. The SEC has expressed concern that thieves are lifting passwords from home PCs and emptying online brokerage accounts.

Arriving home from a five-week trip to Belgium and India on August 14, a jet-lagged Korukonda L. Murty picked up his mail--and got the shock of his life. Two monthly statements from online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp. showed that securities worth $174,000--the bulk of his and his wife's savings--had vanished. . . . The proceeds wired out of his account in six transaction of nearly $30,000 apiece. . . E*Trade says the computer in Murty's home lacked antivirus software and had been infected with code that enabled hackers to grab his user name and password.

E*Trade recovered some of the money and then reached a settlement with Murty.

The article goes on to say that brokers claim it is the customers responsibility to protect themselves. Nevertheless brokers may be concerned about customers getting scared away from online trading that they are starting to look at offering more safeguards.