Data Breach at Abu Dhabi Conference: High-Profile Passport Leak Exposed

Identification documents of notable figures, including former British PM David Cameron, were leaked online after a data breach at Abu Dhabi Finance Week. The documents were stored on an unprotected server, accessed openly via a web browser, before being secured following a security alert.

The Abu Dhabi Finance Week suffered a security breach where identification documents of hundreds of influential figures, including former British Prime Minister David Cameron and hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard, were compromised, as reported by the Financial Times.

According to documents reviewed by FT, over 700 passports and state identity cards were exposed due to their storage on an unprotected cloud server linked to the conference, which hosted over 35,000 attendees last December. Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was also among those affected.

While ADFW has assured that the situation was rectified promptly, attributing the breach to a third-party vendor, questions linger over the security protocols in massive international events. The breach was addressed after a security researcher flagged the vulnerability.