Bank of America Prepares for WikiLeaks

When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he had data from a major American bank executive's hard drive, Bank of America downplayed speculation that the information was from BofA or that WikiLeaks could possess damaging information. In a case of closing the barn door after the horse escaped, the New York Times reports that BofA Chief Risk Officer Bruce Thompson and a team of more than a dozen officials have led a largely surreptitious internal investigation into potentially compromised data. Various departments have participated in the investigation, including technology, finance, communications, and legal. The bank has also consulted with external firms to assess potential liability and to help manage the investigation. In addition, it has acted preemptively by securing Web domain names that could be embarrassing to the corporation. Although it is not certain that WikiLeaks' data is from BofA, there has been speculation that it may relate to Securities and Exchange Commission filings about the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial.