Aug 09, 2023, 07:55 PM
The UK’s Electoral Commission has revealed it has been the victim of a “complex cyber-attack,” exposing the personal details of millions of British voters.
The Commission revealed the attack was identified in October 2022 after suspicious activity was detected on its systems. A subsequent investigation found that the attackers had first accessed its servers in August 2021, the Commission reported in a notification published on August 8, 2023.
The malicious actors accessed “reference copies” of the electoral registers, held by the Commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations. This contained personal data of anyone in the UK who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, including names and home addresses. The names of those registered as overseas voters were also exposed
The Commission revealed the attack was identified in October 2022 after suspicious activity was detected on its systems. A subsequent investigation found that the attackers had first accessed its servers in August 2021, the Commission reported in a notification published on August 8, 2023.
The malicious actors accessed “reference copies” of the electoral registers, held by the Commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations. This contained personal data of anyone in the UK who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, including names and home addresses. The names of those registered as overseas voters were also exposed
