Digital Forensics Dispatch

Request to Destroy Documents by Swiss Bank, Credit Suisse

March 3, 2022

Sarah Coble, of Infosecurity Magazine, recently published an article about a Swiss bank requesting its investors to erase specific documents. The bank, Credit Suisse, stated that they made this request because of a data leak in which client information became available to the media.

According to the Financial Times, Credit Suisse’s motivation for their request was to destroy any documentary evidence of the banks’ business that tied them to oligarchs and other wealthy Russians who were sanctioned after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Financial Times spoke with three sources that were recently sent a letter from Credit Suisse. The sources said that the bank had asked them to “destroy and permanently erase” any data concerning the securitization of loans that were financed by yachts, private jets, financial assets, and real estate.

John Bambenek, the principal threat hunter at a California-based digital IT and security operations company, said, “There have been rumors of a data breach on the level of the Panama Papers where the release of documents is imminent.”

Bambenek also added, “It is likely that whoever is behind this is focusing on Russian interests as this is coincidentally occurring at the same time. So, organizations are looking like they are engaging in preventative damage control” and “that said, telling someone to destroy documents usually ends poorly for all involved.”

In addition, in February there was another data leak at Credit Suisse that exposed the hidden wealth of clients that were guilty of drug trafficking, money laundering, torture, corruption, and other criminal offences. Details of about 18,000 accounts leaked, manifesting ill-gotten gains of $100 billion, were shared with the media by an anonymous whistleblower.

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