THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER has admitted that its jobs website has been deliberately targetted by sophisticated hackers and that a huge amount of personal data might have been stolen.

Guardian Jobs is the main source of situations vacant advertising for media lovies and publishing types in the UK, and an email sent to registered users yesterday warns that anyone who has ever made one or more job applications using the site is at risk.

From what we can tell, any personal information included in such applications has been stolen and could very easily be used to allow identity theft and worse.

The breach has been reported to the central e-crimes department at Scotland Yard but, according to a statement from the newspaper, police are keeping their cards close to their chests in an attempt to catch the hackers. "The police remain anxious to keep information about the apparent theft to a minimum, in order not to compromise their investigations, but did agree with us that we could inform those users who may be affected.

"We stress our regret that this breach has occurred. This is apparently a deliberate and sophisticated crime, of which the Guardian is a victim in addition to some of our users," the statement said.

Red-faced officials are now saying that the company that runs the website on behalf of the newspaper has identified how the hackers got in and has plugged the gaping hole. "We have been assured by our provider that the system is now secure and, in line with the Information Commissioner's guidance on data protection, we have identified and contacted, or attempted to contact, everyone who may be at risk," the statement continues.

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