The World Economic Forum has admitted that computer hackers managed to steal personal information about high profile people at its annual gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos last month.
The hackers approached a Swiss newspaper with data including mobile phone numbers, credit card numbers and home addresses of such figures as Bill Gates of Microsoft and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The Forum said it was treating the matter as a crime and has launched an investigation. A spokesman refused to speculate as to whether the hackers might be anti-globalisation protesters.
