X Factor boss Simon Cowell has contacted the FBI to help him safeguard himself against computer hackers.

Computer whizzes have been hacking into his record label’s sytem and have already managed to upload Alexandra Burke’s new single and some of Shayne Ward’s material to an illegal file-sharing site. The same thing happened last year with some of Leona Lewis’ new material.

A Syco spokesman told The Sun: “Hacking and stealing of songs is a real issue for many artists.

“We are doing everything we can to catch those behind this.”