The public face of the Young Intelligent Hackers against Terror (YIHAT) spoke today of his fear that a terrorist organisation might arrange his death.

The millionaire hacker Kim Schmitz, who may be on the verge of bankruptcy, told The Guardian today that he fears for his life. "If one fanatic thinks he would do a favour to somebody who doesn't like me in the Islamic world, it's the easiest thing just to come by and give me a bullet," he said.

Schmitz claimed to have received several death threats and acknowledges that he may also be putting his staff at risk with his grand claims. But he told The Guardian that his actions were worth the "obvious risks".

The 27 year-old hacker is still adamant that YIHAT's battle plans are solid. The group claims it had two successful operations in recent months, namely hacking into the Al-Shamal and Arab National banks and capturing information on bin Laden and his supporter's financial transactions.

"We are very confident we can find potential sleepers, or at least the supporters and financial backers of those people," said Schmitz.

But what has dogged YIHAT's reputation most is reluctance on the FBI's part to discuss whether it has received any such information from YIHAT, and a denial of any security breaches from both of the banks.

The vigilante group has since been forced back "underground" and was prompted to kill off its website after a flood of bad press and ridicule from the hacker community. But Schmitz reckons that his mysterious army of "security experts from around the world", now numbering 48, is capable of taking down terrorist organisations.