Partner: Massive data breach at 'Panama Papers' law firm was from hack attack, not internal leak
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Journalists reporting worldwide about offshore wealth of prominent people got millions of confidential documents from Panama-based Mossack Fonseca as a result of an attack by hackers, not an insider data leak, a partner of the law firm says.
“We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack,” founding partner Ramon Fonseca told Reuters.
“We have a theory and we are following it,” he continued, without explaining what that theory is.
So-called Panama Papers documents from the firm covering a nearly 40-year time span made headlines this week and sparked probes by prosecutors in a number of jurisdictions concerning the secret wealth they revealed.
Fonseca says his firm has complained to the office of Panama’s attorney general.
“The only crime that has been proven is the hack,” he told Reuters. “No one is talking about that. That is the story.”
Last week, the firm reportedly emailed clients about “an unauthorized breach of our email server,” the BBC News reports.
Fonseca insists that the firm, which helps banks, accountants and law firms set up offshore shell companies for third parties, has done nothing wrong, and said in a statement to the Guardian earlier this week that “most of the persons mentioned … are not our clients nor do they appear in our database as persons related to the companies we formed.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Massive leak of law firm documents reveals offshore wealth of politicians and celebrities”
ABAJournal.com: “Prosecutors launch probes after massive leak of Panama law firm’s documents”
