Cybercriminals have tapped into French president Nicolas Sarkozy's bank account, according to reports.
According to the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, small amounts of money were taken out of his account after thieves managed to obtain confidential numbers and passwords. Sarkozy reported the theft in September, but so far nobody has been charged.
Luc Chatel, the Secretary of State for consumer affairs, confirmed that an investigation was underway and said that more needed to be done to tighten internet security.
This is the latest high profile political figure to be victim of internet crime, with American election hopeful Sarah Palin's email account compromised and her opponent Barack Obama victim of malicious spam in recent weeks.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said: "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 everyone should take the necessary precautions to avoid ending up in the same boat as Sarkozy and so many others."
Last week IT PRO reported about how the credit card data trading post Dark Market was shut down in a global law enforcement effort involving SOCA and the FBI.
