Sarkozy's bank account hacked

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has had his bank account hacked into, according to security researchers.

A "small sum" of money was taken, prompting the French government to investigate the case.

Secretary of State for consumer affairs Luc Chatel has also called for online banks to tighten their security.

"The French President is the latest political figure to fall victim to hackers - last month we reported that Sarah Palin's email account had been compromised, while Barack Obama was the subject of a malicious spam campaign," said Graham Cluley of Sophos.

"What's interesting is how the cybercrooks managed to steal the password to access what should have been a secure account. This latest incident highlights the fact that no one is safe and that everyone should take the necessary precautions," Cluley continued.

The theft apparently took place last month but as yet no one has been charged.

Francois Paget of McAfee had a theory as to how Sarkozy's details could have been stolen.

"The most probable origin of Sarkozy’s identity theft is 'carding'. Dump tracks lists are for sale by the thousands, and many hacked credit card readers are on the market. Perhaps one of them involved Sarkozy’s credit card during one of his numerous foreign travels," Paget said.

Earlier this year, Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni released an album and on one track describes her husband as "my orgy".

www.sophos.com
www.mcafee.com