VIP Passport Data Exposed After High-Profile Finance Conference
A misconfigured cloud storage environment linked to Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) left scans of 700 passports and state ID cards belonging to high-profile delegates publicly accessible after the December 2025 event. The platform, created for event registration and VIP accreditation, was not protected by authentication and was indexable using standard search techniques.
The unprotected server, managed by a third-party vendor for the ADFW event organiser, was discovered in mid-February 2026 by security researcher Roni Suchowski using tools for identifying exposed cloud assets. The documents – viewable in a normal web browser without authentication – included full-colour images of passports and national ID cards, as well as supporting files such as invoices and travel details for attendees.
According to media reports 1, affected individuals included former UK prime minister David Cameron, hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard, US investor and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. The data set reportedly contained credentials for financiers, politicians, regulators and crypto founders.
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