Wireless hackers steal millions

The threat from fraudsters stealing financial data has been exposed by a group of hackers who obtained up to a hundred million credit card details using wireless Internet systems, says The Telegraph.

The safety of personal information was called into question after US authorities charged eleven people for breaking into shops' computer systems and capturing the information of up to 100 million cards.

It is not known exactly how many UK shoppers are affected, but TJX - the parent company of the British retail chain TK Maxx - is believed to be among the retailers targeted by the hackers.

Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reports there were three times more mobile subscribers than access line subscribers worldwide in 2007 (3.3 billion vs. 1.1 billion), reports Market Watch.

It expects continued strong growth in mobile subscribers, mainly driven by basic voice service needs in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries.

Infonetics' report, 'Fixed and Mobile Subscribers', shows that the number of mobile subscribers jumped 31% in 2007 over 2006, while access line subscribers declined 5%. It expects the number of worldwide mobile subscribers will reach 5.2 billion by 2011.

Telecoms analyst Analysys Mason predicted there will be a total of 2.1 billion wireless-broadband customers globally, generating $784 billion in service revenue by 2015, says ZDNet.

Cellular broadband technologies, such as HSPA (also known as 3.5G) and LTE (the long-term evolution of 3G), will take the largest share, with 20 times as many customers as alternative wireless-broadband technology WiMax by the end of 2015.

WiMax will contribute just two percent of global revenue by then, after failing to achieve significant market share, according to the analyst.