Using a combination of trade tricks and clever programming, hackers have thoroughly compromised security at America Online, potentially exposing the personal information of AOL's 35 million users. The most recent exploit, launched last week, gave a hacker full access to Merlin, AOL's latest customer database application. As a security measure, Merlin runs only on AOL's internal network, but savvy hackers have found a way to.....

America Online has confirmed that hackers have illegally compromised an undisclosed number of its member accounts by targeting key company employees with an email virus.   AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato declined to comment on how many accounts were affected or what kind of information was accessed by the perpetrators. He said the perpetrators gained access to the accounts when unsuspecting AOL staff downloaded virus-infected email.....