Zurich asset manager hit by massive hacker attack
Published: Friday, Sep 27th 2024, 12:30
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An extensive data leak has occurred in the Swiss financial center. The Zurich-based asset manager Boreal Capital Management has been attacked by a hacker group and, according to media reports, data from around 700 current and former clients has been stolen and published. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma are actively investigating the case.
The hackers are said to have published the 46 gigabytes of data on the darknet back in June, as first reported by the French-speaking Swiss online platform "Gotham City". Boreal Capital Management confirmed the cyberattack on Friday at the request of the news agency AWP: it was noticed on June 20 and originated in the database of a former service provider, according to the company's statement. The company immediately informed the relevant authorities and filed a criminal complaint.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) received a report on the "ransomware" attack from the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) on Thursday, an OAG spokesperson explained on Friday in response to an AWP inquiry. The authority will now analyze the report and evaluate its next steps. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma also confirmed that it was aware of the incident: It is "in close contact" with the institution concerned, a spokeswoman told AWP.
Politically exposed persons
According to the "Gotham City" platform, most of the customers affected by the data theft come from Spain, Andorra and Venezuela. Around a quarter of the clients mentioned in the data were "high-risk" or "politically exposed" clients. Major Swiss banks such as UBS, Julius Baer, EFG, Lombard Odier and Goldman Sachs served as custodian banks for the funds of Boreal clients, the report continues.
The asset manager Boreal Capital Management is represented not only in Zurich but also in Miami. It is owned by the Andorran bank Mora, which in turn is privately owned by the family.
First media articles
Apparently, the data published on the darknet has also come into the possession of international journalist consortium ICIJ and has already led to several media articles. For example, an article in "Le Temps" about the assets of the wife of a Moldovan oligarch managed by Boreal are said to have referred to the data records, as is an article in a Portuguese magazine about the accounts of a former Portuguese minister, writes "Gotham City".
The data thieves are said to be the hacker collective "Play", which is said to have links to Russia. The group is also said to have already been active in this country. It is associated with cyberattacks in 2023 on the media companies NZZ and CH-Media as well as the municipality of Saxon.
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