Hackers target the rich and famous

The credit card numbers, mortgages and shopping habits of US celebrities and top politicians land on the Internet, grabbing public attention. Political and business leaders would do well to pay attention, experts say. US First Lady Michelle Obama likes shopping at Banana Republic - at least that's what her credit card records show on the website exposed.su. The site has published personal information on the credit histories or social security numbers of Jay-Z, Beyonce, Hillary Clinton, US Vice President Joe Biden or former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. There is, however, no way to tell how the site, which makes use of the .su suffix for the Soviet Union, got the information or even if anything published there is true. The data is not thought to stem from hacked mobile phones or other direct routes to the people in question. Instead, it seems to have come from compromised credit agencies. Some of the information is also freely available in public records. Titled "The Secret Files," exposed.su was not accessible when this article was published, but according to media reports, the site read: "If you believe that God makes miracles, you have to wonder if Satan has a few up his sleeve." Although the site garnered some interest for providing a view into the lives of the rich and famous and several investigations are now looking into how someone gained access to such private information, there have been no major scandals associated with the page to date. If you're famous, you're a target "The celebrity gossip is one thing, but what's much more important in my view is that people take sufficient protection from things like industrial espionage," said Constanze Kurz, a spokesperson for the European hacker association Chaos Computer Club. Kurz added that politicians and business leaders tend be of particular interest for hackers. "The Federal Office for Information Security attempts to protect officials' networks and top politicians," she said. "But politicians and business leaders are humans, too, and sometimes for the sake of convenience put information that should be protected on personal mobile phones."