French President Nicolas Sarkozy has become a victim of cybercrime after hackers stole money from his personal bank account.
It is thought the hackers obtained Sarkozy’s online passwords and used them to access his personal bank accounts and remove ‘small’ sums of money.
Luc Chatel, Secretary of State for consumer affairs, confirmed an investigation into the theft in underway and called for security around internet banking in France to be tightened.
“The French President is the latest political figure to fall victim to hackers – last month Sarah Palin’s email account was compromised, while Barack Obama was the subject of a malicious spam campaign,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos.
“What’s interesting is how the cyber crooks 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 to avoid ending up in the same boat as Sarkozy and so many others.”
Back in 2005, when he was the minister of interior, Sarkozy himself got entangled in a potential spamming scandal when he approved the sending of mass e-mails to French voters.
Sarkozy was in Quebec last week to attend the Canada-EU trade talks and a summit of French-speaking nations.
