Leak Ledger is our weekly roundup of leaked documents, images and video. Three leaks this week, all from people who were meant to have the material.
White House ballroom donor records reach The Washington Post
Documents listing 67 contributions above $10,000 to the White House ballroom reached The Washington Post. Records like these usually go to a small circle. Hand each person a PDF with its own invisible watermark, and the copy that surfaces points to the person it was issued to.
Source: CNBC
A year of State Department emails lands at Politico
Months of email chains between a deputy secretary and a special envoy, at times copied to more than a dozen officials, reached a reporter, and the envoy was out within hours. With that many people on the thread, nobody can say who forwarded it. Plain email text can't be traced, but a watermarked attachment can: each recipient's copy carries a unique forensic ID.
Source: Politico
Accenture's $29 AI spending cap reaches 404 Media
Accenture told many employees it will now spend only $29 a month per person on Claude, and the news reached 404 Media. A message that goes to that many people will get out eventually. A per-recipient watermark won't stop that, but it turns a forwarded copy into a lead instead of a dead end.
Source: 404 Media
Why it matters
None of this week's leaks needed a hacker. Donor records, an email thread and a staff announcement each went to a known group.
When every copy is identical, a leak is anonymous. When each recipient gets a copy with its own invisible watermark, the leaked file carries its origin with it: detection reads the unique forensic ID, and you match it to the recipient you recorded. It doesn't cover text someone retypes or a call someone records, and it doesn't stop a leak. It replaces "who could it have been?" with "whose copy is this?" Our guide to invisible watermarking covers where that works and where it doesn't.