Employees and former employees with access to confidential data have long been viewed as a major security threat for corporations, and a former Swiss banker could set a new bar for the depth and scope of damage that can be wrought when such data is leaked.

WikiLeaks is in possession of two discs worth of purportedly damaging information regarding multinational corporations, financial institutions and wealthy individuals in the United States, Europe and possibly other places. The whistle blower website--whose founder Julian Assange is no longer in custody after posting bail in the United Kingdom, pending an extradition request from Sweden--is reviewing the data before publishing it.   

WikiLeaks received the discs from Rudolph Elmer, a former employee of the Swiss bank Julius Baer, who was convicted by a Swiss court Wednesday of coercion and breaking the country's bank secrecy laws, the Associated Press reported. He was fined approximately $6000 but was not given a prison sentence, according to the report.

Elmer previously gave data related to Julius Baer to WikiLeaks, which disclosed information on tax evasion and asset protection for politicians in tenuous positions. Assange made the announcement in a press conference earlier this week, before Elmer returned to Switzerland for his trial, the BBC reported.

Elmer said at the press conference that the information on the two discs includes data on accounts at three banks and the accounts of approximately 40 politicians. "I know how the system works," he said. "I've been there. I've done the job. I know what is the day-to-day business."

Calling Elmer "disgruntled and frustrated," the Swiss bank said that the former employee, who was the chief operating officer in the Cayman Islands, "embarked in 2004 on a personal intimidation campaign and vendetta against Julius Baer," after being terminated.

For more:
- see the Associate Press report via Yahoo News
- see the BBC report

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