“Panama Papers” Law Firm Announces Its Closure Due to Fallout from Massive Data Breach
Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the international “Panama Papers” scandal, has announced that it is closing its doors. The firm was one of the top offshore legal services providers, until 11.5 million of the firm’s internal legal and financial documents were leaked to the media, revealing alleged money laundering, tax evasion, and other criminal activity.
The incident is the largest known data breach involving a law firm. Security researchers identified numerous easily-exploited vulnerabilities in the firm’s website and email server, and approximately 2.6 terabytes of data were leaked.
In announcing its closure to its clients, the firm cited “reputational deterioration” that has caused “irreversible damage.” It admitted no wrongdoing, maintaining the legality of its services, and claiming that journalists distorted the nature of the firm’s business and its role in the global financial markets.
