A computer break-in at database giant LexisNexis Group may be linked to members of a group of young hackers involved in the theft of revealing photos and celebrity contact numbers from the mobile phone of hotel heiress Paris Hilton, said a senior United States federal law enforcement official.

Investigators this week seized computers and other evidence from several individuals across America as part of an investigation of the LexisNexis breach, in which the intruders gained access to 310,000 personal records.

Three of the people targeted in the inquiry confirmed that federal investigators have served warrants at their homes.

Authorities are investigating whether the suspects used e-mail pretending to contain child pornography to fool people into downloading software capable of capturing passwords and other information needed to infiltrate LexisNexis's computers.

To make off with Hilton's mobile phone data, a hacker apparently posed as a T-Mobile supervisor to get another employee to reveal a password into the company's network, and then group members exploited a software flaw in the system.

One of the three, Zach Mann, 18, of Minnesota, said FBI and Secret Service personnel went to his home and removed personal computers and dozens of computer disks. "They came looking for anything connected with LexisNexis,'' he said.

Another, Jason Hawks, 23, of North Carolina, said: "They busted down the door and ran at me with guns pointed in my face.'' Agents pulled him outside on the front lawn and asked him questions about the LexisNexis intrusions, he said.

"I gave them everything they wanted to know, but they still played the `good cop, bad cop' game.''

The third, a minor, said federal officials appeared at his home and seized his computer. He said investigators "got everybody'' involved in the digital break-in. FBI spokesman Paul Bresson, who said the searches were divided between the bureau and the Secret Service,

revealed that agents are investigating whether hackers involved in the LexisNexis case may also be connected to the theft of information from Hilton's mobile phone account.

In February, several Web sites published photos - some showing Hilton topless - private notes and phone numbers of her celebrity friends.

According to the minor member of the hacker group - and confirmed by a law enforcement source familiar with the case - the LexisNexis break-in was set in motion by a blast of junk e-mail.

Sometime in February, a small group of hackers, many of whom knew each other through online communications, sent out hundreds of e-mails with a message urging recipients to open an attached file to view pornographic images of children. The attachments had nothing to do with child porn. Rather, the files contained a program that allowed the group's members to record anything a recipient typed on his or her computer keyboard.

According to the hacker, a police officer in Florida was among those who opened the infected e-mail message. Not long after his computer was infected with the keystroke-capturing program, the officer logged on to his police department's account at Accurint, a LexisNexis service provided by subsidiary Seisint, which sells access to consumer data.

The young hacker said the group members then created a series of sub-accounts using the police department's name and billing information.

Over several days, the group looked up thousands of names in the database, including friends and celebrities.

The law enforcement source said members of the group eventually began selling Social Security numbers and other sensitive consumer information to a ring of identity thieves in California.

LexisNexis first disclosed the breach March 9.