(MEE) A confidential database used by the world’s largest banks to help them judge who to take on as clients has been leaked online, the company’s operator has confirmed.
Chris Vickery, an internet security researcher, posted a Reddit message on Tuesday saying that he had been able to access a mid-2014 version of World-Check, the database run by financial information giant Thomson Reuters.
He said the copy of the database, also used by intelligence agencies and law firms, has more than 2.2 million records about individuals and organisations, under categories ranging from terrorism to corruption to organised crime.
The database raised controversy last year when Middle East Eye contributor Peter Oborne and BBC journalist Anne Meisel first revealed that the HSBC bank accounts of several Muslim institutions and individuals, including the chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, were closed after they were listed under the terrorism category on the database.
Journalists cannot get access to World-Check, but a client gave Oborne and Meisel access for 30 minutes during which time they were able to confirm how the groups and individuals had been labelled.
World-Check stresses on its website that “accuracy of the information found in the underlying media sources should be verified with the profile subject before any action is taken” and that the decision to open or close accounts lay with the banks.
While profiles on the database are created from publicly available information that anyone can access, questions remain about whether banks and others can always reach an informed decision about clients based on World-Check’s information.
Vickery, who did not disclose how he obtained the copy in his Reddit post, said he is considering whether he should leak the database, soliciting opinions from readers.
“At the very least, this should jump-start a little online conversation regarding the appropriateness of having private entities maintain lists utilised by government agencies and banks,” he wrote.
In comments he added later to his post after he said he had talked with Thomson Reuters, Vickery noted that the company is not the only one gathering the kind of data stored in World-Check. “They may be a leader in the industry, but it’s not fair to vilify them as if they were the only compay in the market,” he said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Thomson Reuters said it was grateful to Vickery for alerting them to the leaked information and has “acted with the upmost urgency to contact the third party concerned with whom we are now in contact in order to secure the information”.
This article (Massive Leak of Secret Database Used by World’s Banks and Spy Agencies) by Dania Akkad originally appeared on MiddleEastEye.net and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.