The Panama Papers: An Encrypted Story
How did encryption take part in the most important data leak in history?
The whole Internet is buzzing about the biggest information leak in history, the so called “Panama Papers”. There are two main theories as to how all this happened: the documents were leaked, or their database was hacked.
What’s the story?
Why the biggest leak in history? The quantitative aspect of the leak alone could bring it that status, which includes more than 4.8 million emails, 3 million database files and around 2.1 million PDF documents. But that’s not the only factor that contributed to its enormous importance: it’s the information within those 2.6 terabytes, dating back to 1977 and going up to December 2015.
Ramon Fonseca, one of the founding partners at Mossack Fonseca said that:
“We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack. We have a theory and we are following it”
The company has even released a Statement regarding the recent media coverage, to try and bring light on all the allegations they were faced with.
All the documents were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung from an anonymous source, and later shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Their main purpose was to show what kind of businesses the company, Mossack Fonseca, makes with world leaders, celebrities, sport-figures and many more.
Basically the information contained in the leak is of 3 types: court cases discussions, politicians deals and communication about hiding money obtained through crimes.
Why so important?
The biggest leak in history is the biggest leak in history because of the names involved in it. It includes information about twelve state leaders, several other politicians, their family members and relatives, including Putin’s friends, relatives of Iceland, Pakistan and Britain prime ministers, as well as the president of Ukraine.
These documents trace around $2 billion of hidden money connected to Vladimir Putin in accounts owned by some of his family members and Sergei Roldugin, his musician friend. Iceland prime minister’s situation is not too shabby either. Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson is being pressed by the former prime minister to resign after the Mossack Fonseca files showed that he may have omitted to disclose stake ownership in a few Icelandic banks under the government’s rules for officials.
The FIFA officials haven’t escaped investigation either, after the documents revealed that even an ethics lawyer for the world soccer body was financially tied to an already accused of corruption official.
Where does encryption come to picture?
The first thing that comes to mind when you think about encryption is that it protects your data, so then why is encryption related to the Panama papers leak? You see, in this particular case, encryption was used for the greater good.
One of the reporters from the Süddeutsche Zeitung said that the source contacted him through an encrypted chat, offering data with the purpose of making the “crimes” public. The source also stated that his life was in danger, and that they could only talk through encrypted channels, without meeting in person.
The communication took place over a series of encrypted channels that were frequently changed, alluding to a few crypto apps, but without stating their used method’s name.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) developers created a two-factor authentication based search engine, and used a URL to share information with media outlets. They even created a real-time chat system, so that the reporters could exchange tips and translate the documents from languages not known to all.
You can read more on Multi-factor authentication here:
Since encryption becomes more sophisticated, together with safer authentication methods, it seems that Mossack Fonseca will not be the last to face an incriminating megaleak. Besides, anonymity and data transfer tools are increasingly widespread and easy to use, making it easier for sources to come forward and reach journalists, delivering precious information.
The Panama papers is the fourth tax haven leak coordinated by the ICIJ since 2013. They have shown how encryption tools can be used for investigative journalism, to the benefit of the public, protection of sources and unfortunately for the disadvantage of parties trying to withhold information.
Use encryption and multi-factor authentication for a greater good! UNLOQ started out of the desire to create a sophisticated yet affordable multi- factor authentication solution that is both efficient and easy to integrate. It provides protection in 3 areas: User authentication, Transaction authorisation and Data at rest.
Read the full Panama Paters story straight from the source: Süddeutsche Zeitung:
