It is feared that a data breach at law firm Appleby could result in confidential details of wealthy clients being made public.

The company, which has offices on Victoria Street, has confirmed that a data-security incident resulted in some information being “compromised”.

An article today on the front page of Britain’s The Telegraph, headlined “Super-rich hacked in Bermuda data leak” claimed the firm was warning some clients that sensitive information may have been accessed in the security breach.

Appleby said it had received inquiries from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media

organisations.

“These inquiries have arisen from documents that journalists claim to have seen and involve allegations made against our business and the business conducted by some of our clients,” Appleby said in a statement.

“We take any allegation of wrongdoing, implicit or otherwise, extremely seriously.”

Appleby said it was unequivocally committed to the highest standards of client service and confidentiality.

“Appleby has thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegations and we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients. We refute any allegations which may suggest otherwise,” the firm stated.

“We are a law firm which advises clients on legitimate and lawful ways to conduct their business. We do not tolerate illegal behaviour.”

Appleby said it had researched the allegations and believed they were “unfounded and based on a lack of understanding of the legitimate and lawful structures used in the offshore sector”.

Regarding the data breach, Appleby stated: “We have reviewed our cybersecurity and data-access arrangements following a data-security incident last year, which involved some of our data being compromised. These arrangements were reviewed and tested by a leading IT forensics team, and we are confident that our data integrity is secure.”

Appleby has ten offices around the world, advises clients and provides legal advice in a number of offshore jurisdictions.

Appleby’s full statement can be read at https://tinyurl.com/y9vx6ty3