Police in Italy are investigating a Virtual burglary that occurred within the popular Facebook Game Pet Society.

Pet Society is a social pet simulation game from Playfish that allows players to decorate and furnish virtual houses and purchase virtual clothes for their virtual pets.

Paola Letizia of Palermo, Italy, stated in a report to police that somehow a hacker managed to clean out her virtual home within the game, stealing everything but her blue cat that lived there.

The thief stole the virtual furniture, virtual clothes and virtual art with which 44-year-old Letizia had furnished her seven room home with. The cost of the items are believed to have totaled $140.

“I don’t think it matters that the flat only exists in Facebook,” Letizia was reported to have told the Italian media, “It is real to me and I have suffered a real loss.”

Maybe Pet Society can charge an extra fee for placing virtual security guards outside these virtual houses.

St. Vincents hospital in Dublin is reported to have misplaced an external hard drive containing the medical records of a number of patients. It is reported that notices have been circulated amongst staff asking if anyone had seen the hard drive.

The incident has been reported to the Data Commissioner and an internal investigation is underway. The hospital is in the process of creating a report advising the Data Protection Office of the circumstances surrounding the loss of the hard drive and the implementation of measures that will prevent any future incidents of this nature.

The records relate to a number of patients who are believed to have attended the hospital during 2002 and 2008 suffering from laryngeal disorders.

The Data Protection Commissioner is unable to comment in detail until their own investigation into the matter is completed.

Gardai are investigating a number of complaints from Small business owners in the Midlands and West of the Country who have been hit by cyber attacks.

Hackers have gained access to the computer systems of these businesses, encrypted data such as client files, order books and are now demanding ransom for the release of the data. Understandably this could cripple any sized business. Without proper security measures in place these businesses are effectively leaving themselves wide open to attacks such as these.

The worrying aspect of this is that most businesses in Ireland do not have adequate IT Security systems in place and are not aware of the seriousness of what can happen without proper protection.

Click here to read more on RTE’s website.