World Economic Forum hacker arrested
Swiss police investigating a breach of security at the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos have made an arrest. The suspected computer hacker was detained in Bern on Friday.
Sources close to the investigation said there was “compelling evidence” against the man, who lives in the Swiss capital.
A group of hackers broke into files stored on the WEF computer during the summit last month and downloaded confidential information concerning 1,400 forum members, among them the Microsoft boss, Bill Gates, and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
The information, including credit card details, was stored on a CD-rom, a copy of which was passed to the Swiss German “SonntagsZeitung” newspaper.
A WEF spokesman said none of the information stolen appeared to have been used by the hackers.
The arrest follows the launch of an enquiry by the Geneva justice department. The WEF has its base in Geneva.
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