HSBC’s Swiss banking operation – operating in an industry that is reknowned for its secrecy – has been rocked by revelations that details on as many as 24 000 of its wealthiest clients have been leaked.

The latest monthly spam report shows that, regardless of the world economy, there is one item that is particularly hot this winter: Russian mail-order brides. This is according to newly released figures from McAfee.

Smartphones could very easily become spy phones, with hackers able to eavesdrop on your conversations, researchers at Rutgers University in the US have warned.

IdentityFinder, the identity theft prevention company, are set to offer protection for social networking sites later this year.

Kroll Associates – the IT-enabled detective and investigations firm acquired by insurance giant Marsh & McLennan in 2004 for more than $1.9bn – is now up for sale, according to newspaper reports.

CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention service, has reported a surge of almost a third in identify theft fraud during 2009, something that it says points to collusion between criminal gangs and staff working inside financial services companies.

A husband-and-wife team from Coral Gables has been indicted for the second time in a year for the theft and sale of privacy data. Authorities claim that in both cases, the couple received payments from personal injury lawyers in exchange for patients’ …

In further proof that the hospitality industry is becoming a prime target for hackers, The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites has admitted a likely data security breach.

A new VBScript vulnerability that is apparently being exploited by hackers in the wild has caused Microsoft to warn Windows XP users to avoid hitting the F1 function key if requested to by a website.

Sunbelt Software’s list of top malware infections seen during February claims to show that there was a sizeable surge in trojans during the month.