He said his office computer and phone systems were disconnected during his investigations and that people had been watching his house once he was suspended.

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Earlier this month, Iain Lobban, the head of GCHQ, told a cyber security conference in London that a "significant" attempt was made to target the computer systems of the Foreign Office and other government departments over the summer.

BBC: GCHQ to help firms combat cybercrime

Had his office not done that work, Lyle said, computer systems throughout the White House may have faced catastrophic failures on Jan. 1, 2000.

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The prosecution told the court that, using the skills he learnt during his time in the UBS back office, Adoboli entered false information into UBS's computer systems to conceal the enormous risks he was taking.

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Working with David Liddle, who ran Xerox's office systems division, Mr Metcalfe convinced Gordon Bell, a brilliant computer scientist from the now defunct Digital Equipment Corporation, to back the Ethernet protocol.

ECONOMIST: CASE HISTORY: Out of the ether | The