Hacker posts client emails from Swiss bank BCGE (updated)

Banque Cantonale de Geneve

09/01/2015 21:12

(Adds bank statement confirming posting) 
    ZURICH/GENEVA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A hacker claiming to be 
behind a cyber attack on Banque Cantonale de Geneve  BCGE.S  on 
Friday divulged confidential client information after the Swiss 
bank failed to meet demands for payment. 
    In the latest case of a breach of customer information at a 
financial firm, an anonymous person or group using the Twitter 
moniker Rex Mundi said it had hacked the Genevan cantonal 
(state) bank's servers and downloaded more than 30,000 emails by 
Swiss and foreign clients. 
    Hours after the hacker's 1700 GMT ultimatum expired, the 
bank issued a statement saying that the intercepted material had 
been published, but added that it represented "no particular 
financial risk for clients or the bank". 
    "At first analysis, this information is hardly critical, is 
obsolete or corresponds to foreseen contents about which it has 
already informed a significant number of clients concerned." 
    BCGE spokeswoman Hélène De Vos Vuadens said that at this 
stage it appeared that all of the 30,000 mails which the hackers 
claimed to have intercepted had been published, including some 
affecting foreign clients. 
    She said that all the information was from clients' 
inquiries over the Internet and did not involve their accounts, 
which require several passwords or codes to access. 
    The hacker had earlier posted names, addresses and messages 
to the bank from two people it said were BCGE clients, and said 
the remainder of the data it had stolen would be make public 
later on Friday if it was not paid 10,000 euros ($11,779).  
    "We chose not to give in to blackmail and chose instead the 
path of transparency," the bank's spokeswoman said. 
    The hacker played on Swiss banks' reputation for helping 
clients conceal information from tax authorities. 
    "We would like to wish a merry tax audit to all the 
non-Swiss account holders listed in the BCGE files," the Rex 
Mundi account tweeted on Friday, one of 61 messages that range 
from detailing demands, to criticizing the bank for lax 
technology security, and taunting clients who may be at risk. 
    BCGE is one of a host of Swiss banks to come forward under a 
government-brokered scheme for banks to pay fines for helping 
wealthy Americans avoid tax.  ID:nL6N0JZ3R4  
    "As for fiscal risks, we asked all of our clients to 
regularise their (tax) situation. It is up to each of our 
clients to fulfill legal requirements in conformity with the 
legislation in force," the BCGE spokeswoman said on Friday. 
 ($1 = 0.8490 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Katharina Bart in Zurich and Stephanie Nebehay in 
Geneva; Editing by Mark Potter and Michael Urquhart) 
 ((Katharina.Bart@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 7312; Reuters 
Messaging: katharina.bart.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: BC GENEVE HACKER/