A lone hacker comes along, dumps a massive trove of secret information about the global super-rich and powerful on the world’s media, and then, fearing for his safety and freedom, drops out of view, probably forever. Welcome to the era of the mega-leak. It’s the modern-day equivalent of David and Goliath—with the anonymous hacker or whistleblower playing the role of the hero in most cases—and the mighty and the wealthy had better get used to it, since they are the main targets. And they’re never going to know whether what they’ve been trying to hide for decades, employing a battery of expensive lawyers or accountants, could become tomorrow’s headline.

The Panama Papers leak last week is thus only the latest example of what is plainly becoming a trend, one that comes out of a confluence of two factors. First, the powerful have more to hide than ever. Second, with the development of encrypted communications, whistleblower software, the Tor browser (which allows for anonymous web browsing), and other tools to securely pass documents to journalists, a kind of infrastructure now exists to support leakers, who have also exhibited savvy when choosing the recipients of their secrets…

The Panama Papers could one day soon be dwarfed by an archive of data from a major international organization, like the International Monetary Foundation (a leaked phone call just upset negotiations between the IMF and Greece). Meanwhile, companies are producing and maintaining more data than ever. A decade ago, it might have been a matter of controversy to find out that your employer was secretly recording your keystrokes. Now, many white-collar workers spend their days talking, collaborating, and gossiping on Slack, Hipchat, Asana, or other forms of productivity software that preserve every communication, making them a target for a leak — or a subpoena.