A significant breach has come to light, as cyber threat actors managed to infiltrate a trove of valuable electoral commission data spanning an impressive eight-year period from 2014 to 2022. The disclosure of this breach has recently been made by the UK Electoral Commission, following its provision of breach details to the Information Commission Office (ICO) just last week.
Curiously, although the breach itself was identified in the early months of the preceding year, the governmental entity responsible opted to unveil the specifics only now, nearly a year later.
Adding further intrigue to the situation, an anonymous source has contributed to the crisis by asserting that the breach was actually detected as far back as 2017. However, those responsible for maintaining the electoral database chose to remain tight-lipped about the incident for reasons that are best known to them. This reticence might potentially be attributed to the political turmoil prevailing within the country at that particular time.
The information laid bare by this attack encompasses a comprehensive array of data, including the names of over 40 million voters, their email addresses, contact particulars, residential addresses, the date they attained voting eligibility, and even the associated profile images.
The electoral watchdog emphatically maintains that the breach did not wield any influence over the outcomes of recent elections, as the hackers abstained from altering any components of the registration database.
In essence, this signifies that the legitimacy of the election of Rishi Sunak as the newly elected Prime Minister of the UK, as well as the preceding candidacies of Lizz Truss and Boris Johnson, remains intact.
Worth noting is the backdrop of discussions surrounding the manipulation of electoral databases, a topic that gained prominence following the conclusion of the 2016 US presidential elections. In that instance, Ms. Clinton, the then-presidential candidate, had levied accusations against Donald Trump, suggesting that his victory was achieved through interference by a foreign nation. Despite subsequent explanations presented by former President Barack Obama, the subject gradually lost its fervor over time.
