Sunken superyacht containing sensitive intelligence data?

The $40 million Bayesian superyacht sank off the Italian island of Sicily in August, killing seven people, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, nicknamed the "British Bill Gates." The yacht was owned by Mr. Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, whose company, Revtom Limited, was owned by Mr. Lynch's wife.

Rescue team off the coast of Sicily on August 21

CNN on September 22 quoted sources revealing that Italian prosecutors suspect the superyacht contains highly sensitive data related to many Western intelligence agencies. Professional divers have suggested increasing security around the sunken ship area because of concerns that the data contained in a waterproof safe could fall into the hands of interested foreign governments .

Mr Lynch is believed to have links to British, American and other intelligence services through several companies he owns, including the cyber security firm Darktrace he founded.

4 bodies found in tech billionaire's luxury yacht

According to CNN, Darktrace was sold to Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo in April. Mr. Lynch served as science , technology and cybersecurity advisor to British Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May during their tenure.

The yacht is currently lying on the seabed at a depth of about 50 meters. Inside the yacht is believed to be a waterproof safe with two super-encrypted hard drives, storing secret information such as passwords and other sensitive data, according to an official involved in the salvage plan.

A Sicilian civil protection official assisting the investigation said authorities had accepted a request to increase security around the wreck until it was raised, with the superyacht being closely guarded both above and below the water.

Rescue workers brought the body of Mr. Mike Lynch to shore on August 22.

Ms. Bacares and 14 others survived, including Captain James Cutfield. Mr. Cutfield and two crew members are being investigated for manslaughter and negligence causing the sinking.

Some survivors said that Mr. Mike Lynch did not trust cloud storage services and always kept the hard drive in a safe on the superyacht whenever he traveled on it.

Local prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said no personal belongings, including computers, jewelry or hard drives belonging to Mr. Lynch, had been recovered from the ship. The team of divers will complete their survey this week and will develop a plan to salvage the 473-ton wreck without spilling oil or losing sensitive data. The cost of the salvage will be borne by the company that owns the superyacht.

Mr. Lynch was acquitted in a U.S. fraud case in June, related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to computer company Hewlett Packard (HP). In the case, he was accused of inflating the value of Autonomy before selling the company to HP.

Also on the day the Bayesian sank on August 19, Mr. Lynch’s business partner and co-defendant in the U.S. case, former Darktrace CFO Stephen Chamberlain, died in hospital after an accident two days earlier. Mr. Chamberlain was hit by a car while jogging, and Mr. Lynch had planned to cut short his trip to return to the U.K. to visit his partner, who was in a coma.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sieu-du-thuyen-bi-dam-chua-du-lieu-tinh-bao-nhay-cam-185240922164050776.htm