Russia suspected of Electoral Commission data breach

The electoral commission has apologised after it was discovered that a hostile cyber-attack accessing the data of 40 million voters was not detected for a year and the public did not find out for another 10 months.

The names and addresses of all all voters registered between 2014 and 2022 were availabe to “hostile actors” from around August 2021.

The attack was reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as well as the National Crime Agency within 72 hours after it was discovered in October.

According to a risk assessment, the personal data held on the electoral registers, i.e. name and address, does not in itself present a high risk to individuals. However, it is possible that this data could be combined with other data in the public domain.

The Electoral Commission said in a statement: "During the cyber-attack, the perpetrators had access to the Commission’s servers which held our email, our control systems, and copies of the electoral registers.

"They were able to access reference copies of the electoral registers, held by the Commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations. The registers held at the time of the cyber-attack include the name and address of anyone in the UK who registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, as well as the names of those registered as overseas voters. The registers did not include the details of those registered anonymously. The Commission’s email system was also accessible during the attack.

"We understand the concern this attack may cause and apologise to those affected. Since the attack was discovered, we have worked with security specialists to investigate the incident and have taken action to secure our systems and reduce the risk of future attacks."

The Telegraph has reported that the UK intelligence services have found evidence that links the hack of the Electoral Commission to Russians.

Former GCHQ director David Omand told BBC Radio 4 that Russia was first on his list of suspects, while former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove told the Daily Telegraph that the Kremlin was at the top of his suspects list.

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