A computer attack carried out by “hostile actors” exposed the data of citizens registered in the electoral register of the United Kingdom between 2014 and 2022, the British Electoral Commission announced on Tuesday.
The organization detailed in a statement that it identified the “suspicious activity” in October 2022, after which it discovered that the hackers had accessed its systems for the first time in August 2021.
The attackers “were able to access reference copies of electoral records”, which, at the time of the attack, “included the name and address of people in the UK who registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, as well as the names of voters registered abroad”, indicated the Electoral Commission.
Shaun McNally, the body’s chief executive, stressed that “the UK’s democratic process is significantly decentralized and key aspects are still document-based,” so “it would be very difficult to use a hack to influence” a choice.
Source: TSF
