Why hackers are a step ahead of the law. Security is the Achilles heel of Internet commerce, and this article on CNET indicates that the situation is probably worse than you think. "A Gartner study also shows that 5.2 percent of online shoppers have been victimized by credit card fraud and 1.9 percent by identity theft." And the specific incidents listed probably represent the tip of the iceberg, since many companies are reluctant to publicize breaches of security. Companies executing, or planning to execute, transactions over the public Internet need to make information security a high priority or risk significant loss of business and damage to their brand.