Telegraph Report On “Bermuda Cyber Hack”
[Updated] “Some of the world’s richest people were braced for their financial details to be exposed on Tuesday night after a major offshore company admitted that its computer records had been hacked,” the UK’s Telegraph reported in a story headlined “Super-rich fear their financial details will be exposed following Bermuda cyber hack.”
And major law firm Appleby has released a statement saying, “Appleby has recently received enquiries from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ] and a number of media organisations who are partners of the ICIJ. These enquiries have arisen from documents that journalists claim to have seen and involve allegations made against our business and the business conducted by some of our clients.
“We take any allegation of wrongdoing, implicit or otherwise, extremely seriously. Appleby operates in highly regulated jurisdictions and like all professional organisations in our regions, we are subject to frequent regulatory checks and we are committed to achieving the high standards set by our regulators.
“Appleby has thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegations and we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients.”
“We are disappointed that the media may choose to use information which could have emanated from material obtained illegally and that this may result in exposing innocent parties to data protection breaches.”
Telegraph Story
The story said, “Appleby, a firm based in Bermuda with offices in many tax havens, said it was in the process of warning clients that they may be implicated in a massive leak of sensitive information.
“It is understood the leak involves some of Britain’s wealthiest people, who were instructing lawyers and public relations companies in an effort to protect their reputations.
“The disclosure of the leak also threatens to call into question the status of several British Overseas Territories which can offer tax benefits to the very wealthy.”
Cover Of Telegraph Newspaper
Appleby Statement
A statement from Appleby said, “Appleby has recently received enquiries from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ] and a number of media organisations who are partners of the ICIJ. These enquiries have arisen from documents that journalists claim to have seen and involve allegations made against our business and the business conducted by some of our clients.
“We take any allegation of wrongdoing, implicit or otherwise, extremely seriously. Appleby operates in highly regulated jurisdictions and like all professional organisations in our regions, we are subject to frequent regulatory checks and we are committed to achieving the high standards set by our regulators. We are also committed to the highest standards of client service and confidentiality. It is what we stand for. This commitment is unequivocal.
“Appleby has thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegations and we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients. We refute any allegations which may suggest otherwise and we would be happy to cooperate fully with any legitimate and authorised investigation of the allegations by the appropriate and relevant authorities.
“We are an offshore law firm who advises clients on legitimate and lawful ways to conduct their business. We do not tolerate illegal behaviour. It is true that we are not infallible. Where we find that mistakes have happened we act quickly to put things right and we make the necessary notifications to the relevant authorities.
“We are committed to protecting our clients’ data and we have reviewed our cyber security and data access arrangements following a data security incident last year which involved some of our data being compromised. These arrangements were reviewed and tested by a leading IT Forensics team and we are confident that our data integrity is secure.
“We are disappointed that the media may choose to use information which could have emanated from material obtained illegally and that this may result in exposing innocent parties to data protection breaches. Having researched the ICIJ’s allegations we believe they are unfounded and based on a lack of understanding of the legitimate and lawful structures used in the offshore sector.
“The ICIJ themselves recognise the legitimacy of the offshore sector with the following statement on their website: “There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly.”
“We reiterate our commitment to responsible business conduct. If you are a client of Appleby and you wish to discuss any aspect of this statement, please call +44 [0]1624 647 915, or email enquiries@applebyglobal.com”.
Update Oct 25, 8.44pm: In response to our queries, a police spokesperson said, “Following recent local media reports the Bermuda Police Service is aware of this matter which apparently occurred a year ago – but has not received any related criminal complaint to date.”
Read More About
Category: All, Business, News, technology
Grabs popcorn and waits
if only….
Whenever this article comes out it could have the potential to destroy bermudas reputation. Panama still hasn’t and never will recover.
Bermuda should be more worried about Trumps plans to give major concessions to IB than this. Trumps budget is what will have the potential to destroy Bermuda’s reputation. Once Trump starts the concessions Bermuda wont be one of the most economical places for IB to invest in anymore.
Agreed. Couple that with the PLP’s protectionist policies and labeling of our one economic pillar as ‘whiners’ then all of a sudden BDA’s future isn’t looking so rosy anymore.
I’d have to agree here. If Bermuda is suddenly not the best place for IB to be because of a change in the uS tax code, the consequences for Bermuda will be devastating. Much worse than many people think. They won’t stay simply because its nice and we say good morning. its about the almighty dollar only.
Oh boy, dat million dollar minibus sole sourced, no RFP contract gonna come out now… Better put some blow up dolls in those seats!
Yes…now this makes perfect sense.
Not.
These companies don’t spend the money necessary to protect their client data and they don’t engage local Bermuda IT companies (Fireminds) who can do this work and keep them safe. They deserve everything that happens as a result of this lack of investment. They only spend when something bad happens but then it’s too late and what happened to hiring a Bermudian company versus going overseas? Something wrong with that!
ask them where their IT support team moved to….LOL
Time for Bermuda to find another time 2 economic pillars.
AC36 anyone?
If this had been a REAL hack, then we would be hearing names and specific amounts of assets. Nothing to see here, please move on !
The story says the information is going to come out over the next few days
Not sure you read the story. The same media consortium that leaked the Panama Papers has leaked info, and it has basically reached out to Appleby in advance to warn them before they release it.
The info is coming out, it’s only a matter of time. Whether it’s actually damaging, or whether it will be spun by foreign newspapers to make us look bad, is another issue.
This is the ICIJ (Guardian, Oxfam, Christian Aid, etc.) trying to fight a moral war and dictating what is “fair” in terms of taxation. The timing coincides with the EU’s deliberations on white/grey and black lists. There is NO proof of any wrongdoing. This is just another hypocritical assault by the left. If anyone actually finds any criminal activity – wake me up and let me know. Until then, we must regard such sensationalist journalism for what it is: political propaganda to force an un-achievable and ill-conceived agenda.
I like how the article next to it says how a black woman made a university drop white authors… pure racism in action and the world is okay with that?
All very strange, Appleby’s headquarters are in Jersey post merger, not Bermuda.
Makes one wonder who/what is really behind this attempt to damage Bermuda’s stellar reputation as a white list OECD reputable jurisdiction.
Appleby has thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegations and we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing.
So, your data is insecure…private data is leaked and you haven’t done ANYTHING wrong??????????????????
HELLO!! Guess all your clients are now moving to Conyers!