There were rumours and speculation abound today that hacking collective LulzSec had managed to grab the entire Census 2011 database from the computers of the Office of National Statistics, but we have contacted the agency and it seems that no data compromise has been found as of yet.

If the rumours turn out to be true and LulzSec have managed to obtain the entire Census then this will be one of the biggest hacks the UK had ever seen, but the ONS has told TechRadar that nothing as of yet has been found to suggest a hack has taken place.

Aware of the suggestion

"We are aware of the suggestion that census data has been accessed," said the ONS in a statement.

"We are working with our security advisers and contractors to establish whether there is any substance to this.

"The 2011 Census places the highest priority on maintaining the security of personal data. At this stage we have no evidence to suggest that any such compromise has occurred."

A member of LulzSec had apparently posted on Pasteboard - and reported by The Next Web - that the Census had been hacked, although this wasn't verified by LulzSec on its Twitter page.

And the LulzSec drama continues with news that its 'master mind' may have been arrested. It is being reported that a 19 year old in Essex has been arrested in connection with a series of high-profile hacks. Although nothing is yet public in linking this to the hacking collective.

UPDATE

LulzSec has used Twitter to mock news sites who originally said they had hacked the Census and that their 'mastermind' has been captured.

"Seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it's all over now... wait... we're all still here! Which poor bastard did they take down?" said one tweet.

While another commented: "Just saw the pastebin of the UK census hack. That wasn't us - don't believe fake LulzSec releases unless we put out a tweet first."

Microsoft has announced an HTML5 version of its SkyDrive online storage system, boasting that the new service is faster, easier to navigate and makes your photos more beautiful.

With the major companies all looking to the cloud, Microsoft is keen to make the most of its existing online strengths, including its well received SkyDrive storage solution.

An HTML5 version is in keeping with its push towards the web standard, and allows the browser to take advantage of hardware acceleration to speed up its offering.

Time-saving

"Common tasks and scenarios, like clicking on folders and navigating photo albums will go from 6-9 seconds down to 100-300 milliseconds," explained Microsoft in a blog post.

"We took advantage of hardware accelerated graphics, advancements like HTML5 video tag to support playback of H.264 videos (with support for files of up to 100 MB).

The HTML5 SkyDrive also brings a new UI which lays out your contents in one view, and which takes styling from Hotmail.

Last, but not least for many, SkyDrive also "gets the chrome out of the way" (an interesting turn of phrase, given Microsoft's rival) to let your photo fill the browser.

"We added tasteful animation using CSS3 that brings photos to life and presents them in their original aspect ratio, and with the new best fit grid your pictures are laid out so you can see them all, even panoramas," adds Microsoft.

"We no longer have pages in the photo viewing experience; you just scroll the page and quickly see your photos fill in. It looks and feels like a native application."

To learn more about SkyDrive and all that it can do, point your browser to: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-skydrive.