PROTECTING THE HARDRIVES 

Guards protect secrets on sunken billionaire's yacht, report

Italian authorities ask for diver patrols and underwater surveillance to secure superyacht that sank in August killing seven including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch who had ties to intelligence agencies,


Italian authorities bolstered security around the site of the Bayesian yacht which drowned in Sicily’s waters last month amid fears foreign governments would seek to recover confidential documents stored inside the sunken boat’s waterproof safes, CNN said adding that divers were hired to patrol the area for the coming weeks, until the safes can be recovered within a few weeks.

The superyacht capsized and sank at 5 AM Sicily time, on August 19, with 22 people aboard. Shortly after the yacht anchored near Porticello harbor, it was hit by severe weather and eyewitnesses reported it vanished beneath the waves within minutes. Some 15 people managed to escape the yacht and were later found on a lifeboat but seven others perished.


 
Italian rescue divers near location of drowned yacht
(Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

By the end of that week, the bodies of all seven were recovered including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, 59, whose wife owned the yacht. The group had been on a pleasure cruise to celebrate Lynch’s acquittal in a recent U.S. fraud trial.

Most of the passengers on board had stood by Lynch and supported him during his legal battles, including family members, friends and representatives from his defense team at the Clifford Chance law firm. Lawyer Chris Morvillo, who died in the disaster along with his wife, led Lynch’s defense team.

Experts in the maritime industry expressed great surprise at the yacht’s sinking and said it was very rare for luxury yachts of that size to capsize and sink due to weather events. Some have added that a yacht like the Bayesian, built by the prestigious Italian yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm.

An investigation has been launched against the yacht’s New Zealand captain James Cutfield and two of his crew members, who may face charges of manslaughter and causing the disaster through negligence.

The case has taken a new turn, focusing on Lynch, who was at the center of the pleasure cruise and perished in the disaster, considered one of the most famous tech entrepreneurs in the UK. He founded the country’s largest software company, Autonomy, based on groundbreaking research he conducted at Cambridge University and sold it to HP in 2011 for $11 billion. Just a year later, HP claimed that Lynch had inflated the company’s value and that it was worth only $8.8 billion.


Mike Lynch
(Photo: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls)

Lynch was indicted in the U.S. and spent most of the last decade fighting legal battles and defending his name until he was extradited to the U.S.. last year. He denied the charges against him and was acquitted.

After his acquittal, Lynch expressed his happiness and blamed HP for sabotaging the merger between the companies. Now, sources in the Italian prosecution say it's highly likely that Lynch kept extremely sensitive material inside the Bayesian, related to several Western intelligence agencies.

Lynch had connections with the intelligence services of the UK, the U.S. and several other countries via various companies he owned including the Darktrace cybersecurity firm that he had founded. He also served as a science, technology and cybersecurity advisor to former UK prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.

According to sources who spoke with CNN, the yacht likely had two waterproof safes that contained two highly encrypted hard drives. These drives likely held classified information, including passwords.

An Italian prosecution source said some survivors told prosecutors that Lynch didn't trust cloud services, so he made sure to keep physical hard drives in a secure compartment onboard whenever he sailed on the yacht.


Rescue teams in Sicily
(Photo: REUTERS / Guglielmo Mangiapane)

CNN reported that Italian law enforcement authorities initially feared thieves might try to reach the wreck to steal jewelry and other valuables still on board. However, that fear has now shifted to concerns that foreign governments, including Russia and China, might covertly send divers to retrieve the sensitive information.

According to CNN, relevant officials have requested that the yacht be guarded both above the water and via underwater surveillance.
A civil protection authority source in Sicily confirmed to CNN that " A formal request has been accepted and implemented for additional security of the wreckage until it can be raised.”
The Bayesian was 56 meters (184 feet) long and according to its manufacturer, its 75-meter (246-foot) mast was the tallest aluminum mast in the world. The yacht could accommodate 12 guests in six suites and had a crew of 10 people. Over the years, it received numerous design awards. The weekly charter cost for the yacht was €195,000 ($215,000).