Panama Papers

== Newsroom logistics ==
The ICIJ helped organize the research and document review once ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (SZ) realized the scale of the work required to validate the authenticity of 2.6 terabytes<ref name="szabout" /> of leaked data. The group enlisted reporters and resources from a variety of outlets including ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[BBC]], ''[[Le Monde]]'', ''[[SonntagsZeitung]]'', ''[[Falter]]'', ''[[La Nación]]'', German broadcasters [[Norddeutscher Rundfunk|NDR]] and [[Westdeutscher Rundfunk|WDR]], and Austrian broadcaster [[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-35954224 |title=Panama Papers Q&A: What is the scandal about? |access-date=April 7, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407045429/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-35954224 |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |date=April 6, 2016 }}</ref> Ultimately, "reporters at 100 news media outlets working in 25 languages had used the documents" to investigate individuals and organizations associated with Mossack Fonseca.<ref name=":1" />

Security factored into a number of project management considerations. Saying "My life is in danger",<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Greenberg |first1=Andy |title=How Reporters Pulled Off the Panama Papers, the Biggest Leak in Whistleblower History |url=https://www.wired.com/2016/04/reporters-pulled-off-panama-papers-biggest-leak-whistleblower-history/ |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast |access-date=April 4, 2016 |date=April 16, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404141549/http://www.wired.com/2016/04/reporters-pulled-off-panama-papers-biggest-leak-whistleblower-history/ |archive-date=April 4, 2016 }}</ref> one anonymous "John Doe" insisted that reporters communicate over encrypted channels only and agree that they would never meet face-to-face.<ref name="ABC anon">{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-05/why-the-panama-papers-mossack-fonseca-leaks-really-matters/7300262 |title=Panama Papers: Why 'John Doe' risked their life for the Mossack Fonseca leak |work=Australian Broadcasting Commission |date=April 5, 2016 |access-date=April 5, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405125005/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-05/why-the-panama-papers-mossack-fonseca-leaks-really-matters/7300262 |archive-date=April 5, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=We are the investigative journalists who worked on the Panama Papers AMA! |date=April 19, 2016 |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4fi6ck/we_are_the_investigative_journalists_who_worked/ |access-date=April 19, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419163805/https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4fi6ck/we_are_the_investigative_journalists_who_worked/ |archive-date=April 19, 2016 }}</ref><ref name=allyouneed>{{cite news |url=http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/ |title=All you need to know about the Panama Papers |newspaper=Süddeutsche Zeitung |author1=Frederik Obermaier |author2-link=Bastian Obermayer |author2=Bastian Obermayer |author3=Vanessa Wormer |author4=Wolfgang Jaschensky |access-date=April 5, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403223413/http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/ |archive-date=April 3, 2016 }}</ref>

SZ also had concerns about security, not only for their source, the leaked documents, and their data, but also for the safety of some of their partners in the investigation living under corrupt regimes who might not want their money-handling practices made public. They stored the data in a room with limited physical access on [[Air gap (networking)|air gapped]] computers that were never connected to the Internet. ''The Guardian'' also limited access to its journalists' project work area. To make it even harder to sabotage the computers or steal their drives, SZ journalists made them more tamper-evident by painting the screws holding the drives in place with glitter nail polish.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/12/world/panama-papers-pleitgen-amanpour/ |title=How nail polish helped keep the 'Panama Papers' secret |author=Mick Krever |date=April 12, 2016 |access-date=April 26, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423205756/http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/12/world/panama-papers-pleitgen-amanpour/ |archive-date=April 23, 2016 }}</ref>

Reporters sorted the documents into a huge file structure containing a folder for each shell company, which held the associated emails, contracts, transcripts, and [[Image scanner|scanned]] documents Mossack Fonseca had generated while doing business with the company or administering it on a client's behalf.<ref name="szabout" /> Some 4.8&nbsp;million leaked files were emails, 3&nbsp;million were database entries, 2.2&nbsp;million [[PDF]]s, 1.2&nbsp;million images, 320,000 text files, and 2242 files in other formats.<ref name="szabout" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/ |title=All you need to know about the Panama Papers |last=Zeitung |first=Süddeutsche |website=Süddeutsche.de |access-date=April 5, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403223413/http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/ |archive-date=April 3, 2016 }}</ref>

Journalists indexed the documents using [[open software]] packages [[Apache Solr]] and [[Apache Tika]],<ref name=forbes>{{cite web |title=From Encrypted Drives To Amazon's Cloud – The Amazing Flight of the Panama Papers |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/04/05/panama-papers-amazon-encryption-epic-leak/ |website=Forbes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910012354/https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/04/05/panama-papers-amazon-encryption-epic-leak/ |archive-date=September 10, 2017 }}</ref> and accessed them by means of a custom interface built on top of Blacklight.<ref name="forbes"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Gräv - ICIJ\x27s Platforms \x26 Tools|url=https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eBFXwm24frHZAbBgKXLPkxH4o2NEWJlDHQJA6_I4784}}</ref> ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' reporters also used [[Nuix]] for this, which is [[proprietary software]] donated by an Australian company also named Nuix.<ref name=nuix>{{cite web |title=Panama Papers: How Nuix Helped Uncover the Facts |url=http://www.nuix.com/panama-papers-how-nuix-helped-uncover-facts |website=Nuix |access-date=April 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408015107/http://www.nuix.com/panama-papers-how-nuix-helped-uncover-facts |archive-date=April 8, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Using Nuix, ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' reporters performed [[optical character recognition]] (OCR) processing on the millions of scanned documents, converting the data they contained to searchable and machine-readable text. Most project reporters then used [[Neo4J]] and [[Linkurious]]<ref name="forbes"/> to extract individual and corporate names from the documents for analysis, but some who had access to Nuix used it for this as well.<ref name=nuix/> Reporters cross-referenced the compiled lists of people against the processed documents,<ref name="szabout" /> then analyzed the information, trying to connect people, roles, monetary flow, and structure legality.<ref name="szabout" />

US banking and SEC expert [[David P. Weber]] assisted journalists in reviewing information from the Panama Papers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://onlinemba.umd.edu/resources/faculty/david-weber/ |title=Faculty: David P. Weber |work=University of Maryland |access-date=April 18, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080637/http://onlinemba.umd.edu/resources/faculty/david-weber/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref>

Additional stories were released based on this data, and the full list of companies was released in early May 2016.<ref name="The Independent Dearden 4 Apr 2016">{{cite news |title=Everything you need to know about the Panama Papers |work=The Independent |date=April 4, 2016 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/panama-papers-what-are-they-who-is-involved-and-why-are-they-important-illegal-legal-tax-avoidance-a6967176.html |access-date=April 7, 2016 |last=Dearden |first=Lizzie |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406064916/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/panama-papers-what-are-they-who-is-involved-and-why-are-they-important-illegal-legal-tax-avoidance-a6967176.html |archive-date=April 6, 2016 }}</ref> The ICIJ later announced the release on May 9, 2016, of a searchable database containing information on over 200,000 offshore entities implicated in the Panama Papers investigation and more than 100,000 additional companies implicated in the 2013 [[Offshore leaks|Offshore Leaks]] investigation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Guevara |first1=Marina W. |title=Coming Soon: ICIJ to Release Panama Papers Offshore Companies Data |url=https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160426-database-coming-soon.html |website=panamapapers.icij.org |publisher=The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists |access-date=April 30, 2016 |date=April 26, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427120616/https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160426-database-coming-soon.html |archive-date=April 27, 2016 }}</ref> Mossack Fonseca asked the ICIJ not to publish the leaked documents from its database. "We have sent a cease and desist letter," the company said in a statement.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://elsiglo.com/panama/piden-publicar-panama-papers/23938374 |title=Piden no publicar Panama Papers |date=April 6, 2016 |access-date=April 6, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602061930/http://elsiglo.com/panama/piden-publicar-panama-papers/23938374 |archive-date=June 2, 2016 }}</ref>

The sheer quantity of leaked data greatly exceeds the [[United States diplomatic cables leak|WikiLeaks Cablegate]] leak in 2010<ref name="szabout" /> (1.7&nbsp;[[Gigabyte|GB]]),<ref name=DerFreitag>{{cite news |title=Leck bei Wikileaks |trans-title=Leak at Wikileaks |language=de |first=Steffen |last=Kraft |url=http://www.freitag.de/politik/1134-nerds-ohne-nerven |newspaper=Der Freitag |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015071705/http://www.freitag.de/politik/1134-nerds-ohne-nerven |archive-date=October 15, 2011 |url-status=live |date=August 25, 2011 |access-date=March 7, 2012}}</ref> [[Offshore Leaks]] in 2013 (260&nbsp;GB), the 2014 [[Lux Leaks]] (4&nbsp;GB), and the 3.3&nbsp;GB [[Swiss Leaks]] of 2015. For comparison, the 2.6&nbsp;TB of the Panama Papers equals approximately 2,660&nbsp;GB.