Data has “shocking level of detail about citizens”, “their political affiliation” (representation)
Washington:
A database containing information on nearly all of America’s electoral population has been posted on hacker forums, paving the way for disinformation and scams that could impact the Nov. 3 election, researchers say safe.
A report released Wednesday by security firm Trustwave said its researchers “have uncovered massive databases with detailed information on US voters and consumers being offered for sale on several hacker forums.”
The databases “include a shocking level of detail about citizens, including their political affiliation,” and the sellers claim to have 186 million records, which would mean nearly every US voter, security researchers said in a report. blog post.
“The information found in the voter database can be used to carry out effective social engineering scams and spread disinformation to potentially impact elections, particularly in swing states,” the message said. Trustwave analysts Ziv Mador and Nikita Kazymirskyi.
Analysts said at least some of the data comes from public records, but other information appears to come from data leaks or breaches.
The researchers said they also discovered other databases on the entire U.S. consumer population and residents of Britain, Canada, Ireland and South Africa.
Cybercriminals appear to be working “to monetize the next election” in the United States, the researchers added, by selling databases that include addresses, ages, gender and political affiliation of American voters, and numbers phone in some cases.
The news comes a day after US officials said Russia and Iran obtained voter information and took action to influence public opinion, including with “spoofed” emails intended to intimidate voters and create unrest.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
