ORGANISERS of Abu Dhabi Finance Week exposed passport details and other identity data for about 700 attendees, including former British Prime Minister David Cameron and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. An independent security researcher found the unprotected data on a cloud storage system tied to ADFW, and the Financial Times reported the incident, identifying the researcher as Roni Suchowski.
The FT noted that the data may have been publicly accessible for at least two months, with thousands of other documents also found on the same server. In the aftermath, Cassius Edison, COO of Closed Door Security, described the leak as a huge failure in operational security. The event is a reputational blow for Abu Dhabi as it seeks to position itself as a leading global financial centre, even as it hosts large-scale gatherings such as the 2025 summit, which drew 35,000 attendees from over 180 countries.
According to the Financial Times, ADFW secured the server after the media inquiry, and the organisation stated that access activity was limited to the researcher.