The data of 191 million voters in the U.S. may have been leaked online, according to recent reports.
The database was discovered by Chris Vickery, the same security expert who uncovered the Hello Kitty hack earlier this month, and includes the voter's name, home address, date of registration, phone number, voter ID, gender, and political party affiliation.
According to Vickery, he discovered the unlocked database earlier in the month, and he's not sure which company compiled it or who the leak came from. The FBI and Internet Crime Complaint Center were both contacted, but neither followed up or confirmed an investigation.
If Vickery's reports are accurate, the database contains the names of the majority of voters in the U.S. The U.S. Census recorded 142.2 million voters in the U.S. in 2015, which is quite a bit fewer names than the 191 million voter IDs that Vickory has claimed to have uncovered. It's possible, however, that state-to-state moves, deaths, and duplicates could be the reason for the extra IDs.
The leak is concerning, but not all that surprising. Voter data is valuable to political candidates, but it's not often kept very secure. State laws do not treat the information as sensitive, and anyone can request access to it, although that doesn't mean that anyone will be granted access to it. The information can be valuable to hackers and identity thieves when cross-referenced with other databases.
Via: The Verge
