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By Will Sturgeon, 5 February 2001 09:15

NEWS Among the 1,400 people affected - who had all attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland - are Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat. Even more concerning for a number of the Forum's more high profile and guarded attendees was the fact that the hackers also gained access to their detailed travel arrangements. In terms of attribution the Telegraph reports that the hack was the work of 'anti-globalisation' protestors. The news broke in Zurich-based newspaper Sonntags Zeitung who were approached with a CD-ROM on which the information was stored. Previously sections of the data had been published on the internet to coincide with the staging of the Forum. The Telegraph confirms that Sonntags Zeitung tested a cross section of the data to prove its legitimacy, and adds that the attendees' credit card companies also acted upon the release of the information to cancel the affected accounts - though no misuse of the data has been reported. The Independent takes an altogether different angle on the story - choosing to point out that the Swiss are renowned for security that is second to none, with the universal acceptance that Switzerland is above all a banking country. Therefore, despite the fact that cyber-space is probably unfamiliar with the notion of national stereotypes, a security breach of any kind is an affront to the nation's integrity... In other news, BT has insisted it is to go ahead with the flotation of its Cellnet mobile phone arm despite speculation that the company may yet opt for a £50bn merger with Spanish company Telefonica Moviles. According to the Guardian the UK telco intends to float 25 per cent of BT Wireless in an attempt to raise much needed funds to halt escalating debts soaring towards £30bn...