Aug. 31--The Baltimore-based computer security company that hacked into the sizzling, hot iPhone and broke the encryption on wireless gas payment cards and car keys used by millions of drivers is at it again. But this time, analysts there uncovered serious vulnerabilities in two highly popular fantasy worlds frequented by hundreds of thousands of online players around the globe.

Using flaws discovered in the games' coding, Independent Security Evaluators said it was able to read confidential files on massive multiplayer online (MMO) games Anarchy Online and its best-selling successor, Age of Conan. ISE, which will reveal the research today on its Web site (securityevaluators.com), said it was also able to take control of a player's computer in the older game.

The vulnerabilities, ISE says, expose a growing concern among industry experts. Many say players of such games should start worrying more about malicious attacks that can endanger confidential and financial data than the virtual battles that revolve around crushing demon skulls and laying siege to ancient towns.

"Most people, by now, know not to open e-mails and click on links that aren't from people they know," said ISE security analyst Stephen Bono. "But players of these online games are more focused on whether they can walk through walls than whether someone can hijack their computer and steal personal data. The awareness is not there. That's a big problem, since many of these virtual games involve online economies where real money is exchanged for virtual money and goods.

"As these games get bigger and bigger, and more and more people play, and more real money is involved, it's ripe for criminals," Bono said.

Now all this talk of fake money, virtual worlds and fantasy lives might leave many of you addled. Don't we have enough to worry about in the real world?

What's not hard to understand is that there's a lot at stake in this multimillion-dollar industry that gains new fans every year.

To put it into context using some rough numbers, senior lecturer David Grundy at Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University said, "Star Wars is generally thought of as being the biggest movie of all time at around [a] $1 billion take. "Thriller" still is about the biggest song ever recorded, with sales of $500 million. One MMO game alone, World of Warcraft, a game which many of your readers will have never heard of, has for almost four years dominated PC game sales and revenues, with estimated global proceeds of over $4 billion.