Software Defect Allows Filching Of Data

A serious security flaw has been discovered in Netscape, the most popular software used for computer transactions over the Internet’s World Wide Web, threatening to cast a chill over the emerging market for electronic commerce.

The flaw, which could enable a criminal to use a computer to break Netscape’s security coding system in less than a minute, means that no one using the software can be certain of protecting credit card information, bank account numbers or other information that Netscape is supposed to keep private during on-line transactions.

The weakness was identified by two graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley.

Although Netscape Communications Corp., which produces the software, said Monday that the flaw could be fixed and that new copies of the software would be distributed as early as next week, Internet experts said the discovery underscored the danger of assuming that any computer security system was safe.