RansomedVC claim theft of voter data from DC Board of Elections
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A hacking group named "RansomedVC" claimed responsibility for infiltrating the D.C. Board of Elections, accessing around 600,000 lines of U.S. voting data. Governmental agencies, are conducting a thorough investigation into a this potential data breach.
The breach was first noticed by the elections board after the hacking group publicly announced their successful breach. The hackers claimed to have accessed voter records through a breach of the board's website hosting provider, DataNet Systems. The D.C. Board of Elections acted to take down its main website and replace it with a maintenance page.
Notably, internal databases and servers were confirmed to be untouched by the breach, providing some assurance regarding the integrity of critical election systems. The elections board stated that the hacking group did not request a ransom related to the data breach, a common demand from such groups after stealing sensitive information.
The voter registration data includes
- voter names,
- addresses,
- party affiliations,
- birthdays,
- contact information,
- social security numbers,
- specific registration details
Part of the data is public information but the entire set is still confidential.
The hackers offered the stolen data for sale on the dark web. The information reportedly included a D.C. voter's full name, address, contact details, driver's license number, and part of their social security number.
Update - On October 20, the DC Board of Elections (DCBOE) announced that a database server managed by DataNet Systems might have been compromised, potentially exposing the entire voter registry. This registry includes sensitive personal data of Washington DC voters that could be exploited for phishing schemes. While the server in question did hold a copy of the DCBOE voter list, complete with
- partial social security numbers,
- driver's license details,
- birth dates,
- contact information
It remains unclear how many records, if any, were actually obtained by the intruders, the DCBOE acknowledged.
