Massive Breach Of British Voter Data

Cyber hackers have obtained the details of tens of millions of British voters in a complex cyber attack on the Electoral Commission that went undetected for more than a year and Russian hackers are suspected to be the attacks.

The UK's elections checker the Electoral Commission has revealed it has been the victim of a "complex cyber-attack" affecting millions of voters.

“Both Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Electoral Commission cases are reminders of the massive importance of proper data controls. The Electoral Commission case shows that hostile actors, likely to be an as yet unknown nation state, will target the infrastructure of our democratic processes and the data of our population at scale,” says Phil Mason CEO of CyberCX UK operations, which is Australia’s largest independent cyber security services company.

“As such, all owners of critical datasets and important infrastructure in our public life need to be alert to the risks and have the ability to detect and manage anomalous activity in real time.”

“Meanwhile, the PSNI leak, while accidental and not a cyber security incident per se, is a stark reminder that when you have sensitive datasets you need expert and well managed procedures to avoid this sort of very serious accident.”

“However, it is also important to understand risk and harm. While the Electoral Commission breach sounds extraordinarily bad on the face of it, with deeply concerning intent, there are two saving graces.

“First, the electoral system is dispersed and voting is manual, so it’s very hard to cyber-attack a British election.

“Secondly, most - if not all - of the data is already public or purchasable.

“So it is important to not overreact. On the other hand, given the security situation in Northern Ireland, it is absolutely right that PSNI leadership are taking steps to ensure officers understand and get all the support necessary to manage the heightened risk’, says Phil Mason.

And the UK’s Electoral Commission has warned that hostile actors have accessed voter data, including names and addresses, belonging to anyone registered to vote in elections between 2014 and 2022.

The attackers gained access to full names, addresses, and the date on which a person achieves voting age, which is 18 for UK parliamentary elections.

The Commission said "hostile actors" had managed to gain access to copies of the electoral registers with the names and addresses of 40 million registered voters were accessible as far back as 2021 after cyber-attack.

Hackers also broke into its emails and "control systems" but the attack was not discovered until October last year.

“The incident was identified in October 2022 after suspicious activity was detected on our systems. It became clear that hostile actors had first accessed the systems in August 2021.”

“During the cyber-attack, the perpetrators had access to the Commission’s servers which held our email, our control systems, and copies of the electoral registers,” the Commission has published.

The attackers were able to access full copies of the electoral registers, held by the commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations.

These registers include the name and address of anyone in the UK who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022. The commission’s email system was also accessible during the attack.

People have been warned to watch out for unauthorised use of their data.

In a public notice, the commission said hackers accessed copies of the registers it was holding for research purposes, and for conducting checks on political donors.

The watchdog said the information it held at the time of the attack included the names and addresses of people in the UK who registered to vote between 2014 and 2022.

This includes those who opted to keep their details off the open register - which is not accessible to the public but can be purchased, for example by credit reference agencies.

The data accessed also included the names, but not the addresses - of overseas voters, it added.

However, the data of people who qualified to register anonymously - for safety or security reasons, was not accessed, the watchdog said.

The commission says it is difficult to predict exactly how many people could be affected, but it estimates the register for each year contains the details of around 40 million people.

Sophisticated Attack

It added that the personal data held on its email servers was "unlikely to present a high risk to individuals," although information included in the body of an email or in an attachment could be vulnerable.

The personal data held on the registers - name and address - did not itself present a "high risk" to individuals, it added, although it is possible it could be combined with other public information to "identify and profile individuals".

It has not said when exactly the hackers' access to its systems was stopped, but said they were secured as soon as possible after the attack was identified in October 2022.

Explaining why it had not made the attack public before now, the commission said it first needed to stop the hackers' access, examine the extent of the incident and put additional security measures in place.

Information about donations and loans to political parties and registered campaigners is held in a system that is not affected by this incident, the notice added.

The commission added that it had taken steps to secure its systems against future attacks, including by updating its login requirements, alert system and firewall policies.

The Information Commissioner's Office, which is responsible for data protection in the UK, said it was urgently investigating.

The Commission did not publicly disclose the data leak until 10 months after discovering the breach. This was because it needed to remove attacks and put security in place.

BBC:      Electoral Commission:      IT Pro:      The Guardian:      Bloomberg:      Financial Times:      The Telegraph:      Evening Standard

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

If you like this website and use the comprehensive 6,500-plus service supplier Directory, you can get unrestricted access, including the exclusive in-depth Directors Report series, by signing up for a Premium Subscription.

  • Individual £5 per month or £50 per year. Sign Up
  • Multi-User, Corporate & Library Accounts Available on Request

 


Cyber Security Intelligence: Captured Organised & Accessible

« Police Officers At Severe Risk As Personal Data Exposed
Embracing The Passwordless Future »

ManageEngine
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD offers expert-led cybersecurity training to help organisations safeguard their operations and data.

Resecurity

Resecurity

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

SCADAhacker

SCADAhacker

SCADAhacker provides mission critical information relating to industrial security of SCADA, DCS and other Industrial Control Systems.

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an international law firm with offices in the USA, Europe and Asia. Practice areas include Data Security & Privacy.

Interpol

Interpol

Interpol is the world’s largest international police organization. It is committed to the global fight against cybercrime, as well as tackling cyber-enabled crimes.

Atea

Atea

Atea is the market leader in IT infrastructure for businesses and public-sector organizations in Europe’s Nordic and Baltic regions.

Iceberg

Iceberg

Since 2016, Iceberg has redefined how businesses approach hiring in the Cybersecurity and eDiscovery space.

SecureMetric Technology

SecureMetric Technology

SecureMetric is one of SE Asia’s leading players in the field of digital security with a focus on Software Licensing Protection, 2-Factor Authentication, Advanced Identity and Access Management, Publi

StackRox

StackRox

StackRox delivers a container-native security platform that adapts detection and response to new threats.

AnubisNetworks

AnubisNetworks

AnubisNetworks is one of Europe’s leading threat intelligence and email security suppliers.

Project Moore

Project Moore

Project Moore is an Amsterdam law firm specialising in IT-law and privacy.

e360

e360

e360 (formerly Entisys360) is an award-winning IT consultancy specializing in advanced IT infrastructure, virtualization, security, automation and cloud first solutions.

Blue Lance

Blue Lance

Blue Lance is a global provider of cybersecurity governance solutions. Our software solutions automatically collect and store the information necessary for investigations, audit and compliance.

Zercurity

Zercurity

Zercurity is on a mission to build the ultimate cybersecurity operations platform for businesses. To help protect against a growing number of internal and external threats.

Trace3

Trace3

Trace3 is a pioneer in business transformation solutions, empowering organizations to keep pace with the rapid changes in IT innovations and maximize organizational health.

DC Two

DC Two

DC Two are a locally operated and supported Australian data centre, offering a suite of vertically integrated services covering every part of the data centre and cloud technology stack.

Port443

Port443

Port443 specialises in providing Security Orchestration, Automation and Remediation (SOAR) "as a service".

Dynamic Standards International (DSI)

Dynamic Standards International (DSI)

Dynamic Standards International is a global standards development organization which develops certifiable ‘dynamic standards’ that pace with fast-evolving landscapes.