Police nab man in World Forum hacking case

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-4929695.html?tag=lh

By The Associated Press
Special to CNET News.com
February 23, 2001, 11:10 a.m. PT

GENEVA--Swiss police arrested a man Friday on suspicion of hacking
into the computer systems of the World Economic Forum and stealing
private information about participants.

Geneva police said the man is a 20-year-old Swiss citizen and a
part-time computer consultant. He was arrested in Bern, the Swiss
capital.

Police said he will be charged with data theft, unauthorized entry
into a computer system, damage to property and misuse of credit cards.
If found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison or a fine.

No further details would be released, police said. They did not
release the name of the suspect.

It was not clear whether the hacker worked alone or had been part of a
team. A shadowy group of anti-globalization hackers calling themselves
"Virtual Monkeywrench had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The hacker or hackers obtained personal information about government
and business leaders who have attended the summit in the Swiss ski
resort of Davos in recent years.

The hacker passed a CD-ROM containing stolen data from the Forum's
systems to the weekly SonntagsZeitung, which published details on Feb.
4. The newspaper reported that it included the numbers of credit
cards, passports and personal cell phones belonging to political and
business leaders including former President Clinton, Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and South African
President Thabo Mbeki.

The newspaper said the hacker obtained information about 27,000
leading politicians, chief executives of major corporations and top
managers who have taken part in the forum.

The World Economic Forum, the Geneva-based foundation that organizes
the Davos summits, made a complaint to authorities in early February.

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