Leaker Claims to Have Published 2TB of Data From Cayman National Bank

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (Image credit: Shutterstock)

The official Cayman Islands tourism website brags about the territory's stunning beaches, exotic wildlife and contemporary art museums. Yet, it's probably better known for the allegations of money laundering made against it by other governments, including that of the United States, which is what makes the claim that hackers published 2TB of the Cayman National bank's confidential data interesting.

A pseudonymous Twitter account called Distributed Denial of Secrets--a play on the distributed-denial of service attacks that can bring down even the largest websites-- said on Saturday that it was releasing "copies of the servers of Cayman National Bank and Trust." The account has also claimed to have released more information over the last few days and to have upgraded its servers to cope with traffic spikes.

Cayman National operates numerous branches in the Cayman Islands proper, Isle of Man and Dubai.  Distributed Denial of Secrets claimed that it's "allegedly been used for money laundering by Russian oligarchs and others" as well, which is why it published the bank's confidential data. The goal appears to be giving people access to private information that could prove or disprove those allegations of wrongdoing.

Distributed Denial of Secrets said it didn't hack Cayman National itself. Instead, the data appears to have been stolen by someone called "Phineas Fisher," and its revelation was announced by HackBack alongside an explanation of Fisher's actions. A copy of the original statement can be found in the tweets discussing this leak and a report from Unicorn Riot; a translated version was also shared to Pastebin.

Cayman National doesn't appear to have acknowledged the alleged leak on its website or social media profiles. It does say on its website that it's requiring clients to share additional information "in connection with the regulations of the global financial industry," however, and that many of its services would be unavailable on November 17 because of "a major upgrade and maintenance programme."

The company also offered a helpful tip on its Facebook profile earlier today: "Refrain from accessing Online Banking through open and public access points, such as Internet cafes, public libraries, etc." That's a remarkably odd thing to share on Facebook while people on platforms like Twitter and Hacker News discuss a purported leak of terabytes' worth of private information.

Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • Raven_BC
    It seems like you are simply sharing bloody propaganda. Why do you say"
    Russian oligarchs"? Don't you know that there are much more thieves on the other side of the World? You're owners probably do the same (money laundering ) and that is exactly why you use this propaganda term. In case you pretend to publish an information, try harder and make it a bit more "real". You know that all corpo-sh.t does not pay the taxes, what do they do then? Laundering money? They pay a fraction of what we pay earning milion times more. Do you simply get it? They destroy our Planet and then they try to make us guilty (Greta - tool). Wake up, people! They (Intel, Apple, Samsung, all others) use the Earth resources as "brainless things" and claim they do care about the Planet, environment, etc. Truly? You still can't see it? Where is the thinking capability gone? Sorry, bullshit is bullshit and sometimes it is not easy to get by...
    Reply
  • Miguel geek
    Hey, I want to contact Phineas Fisher, could somebody help? We are a cyber security company dedicated to make awareness and consciousness. Thanks people.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    Miguel geek said:
    Hey, I want to contact Phineas Fisher, could somebody help? We are a cyber security company dedicated to make awareness and consciousness. Thanks people.
    Not through this site.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Miguel geek said:
    Hey, I want to contact Phineas Fisher, could somebody help?
    Good luck with that. I'm sure a lot of people, including some very angry & well-resourced individuals, are trying to track down that individual. Because of that, if you even find a way to get a message to them, they're probably going to be extremely wary of anyone trying to get in touch with them.
    Reply