Saturday , February 15 2025
Image Credits: Leon Neal / Getty Images

UK electoral Commission hack exposed data of 40 million voters

The UK’s Electoral Commission was targeted by a “sophisticated cyber-attack”, which led to the personal information of many British voters being exposed.

In October 2022, the Commission made a shocking discovery – an attack had been detected on its systems after detecting suspicious activity. Attackers accessed the servers of the Commission in August 2021, according to a subsequent investigation reported in a notification on August 8, 2023.

Xploit_Cr3w and Blind_Virus, champion for BCS CTF contest

Xploit_Cr3w and Blind_Virus are the two champion teams categorically for BCS ICT Fest 2025 arranged jointly by BCS and BUET....
Read More
Xploit_Cr3w and Blind_Virus, champion for BCS CTF contest

Salt Typhoon Exploits Vulnerable Cisco Devices of Telcoms Globally

Between December 2024 and January 2025, Recorded Future's Insikt Group discovered a campaign targeting unpatched Cisco devices used by major...
Read More
Salt Typhoon Exploits Vulnerable Cisco Devices of Telcoms Globally

CISA Releases Advisories For 20 Industrial Control Systems (ICS)

On February 13, 2025, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued 20 advisories about serious vulnerabilities in Industrial Control...
Read More
CISA Releases Advisories For 20 Industrial Control Systems (ICS)

“Astaroth” Phishing Kit Bypasses 2FA Of Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, M365

The new Astaroth Phishing Kit can bypass two-factor authentication to steal login credentials for Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft. It uses...
Read More
“Astaroth” Phishing Kit Bypasses 2FA Of Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, M365

CVE-2023-38831
Malware campaign target Bangladeshi Government Entities: Report

A sophisticated malware campaign is targeting military and government entities in Bangladesh. It uses social engineering to deliver malicious files...
Read More
CVE-2023-38831  Malware campaign target Bangladeshi Government Entities: Report

(CVE-2025-1146
CrowdStrike Fixed High-Severity TLS Vuln in Falcon Sensor

CrowdStrike has issued a security advisory for a serious TLS vulnerability, CVE-2025-1146, in its Falcon Sensor for Linux, Falcon Kubernetes...
Read More
(CVE-2025-1146  CrowdStrike Fixed High-Severity TLS Vuln in Falcon Sensor

CVE-2025-0108 & CVE-2025-0110
Palo Alto Networks Addressed High-Severity PAN-OS Vulns

Palo Alto Networks has issued advisories for two critical vulnerabilities in its PAN-OS. The vulnerabilities, CVE-2025-0108 and CVE-2025-0110, may enable...
Read More
CVE-2025-0108 & CVE-2025-0110  Palo Alto Networks Addressed High-Severity PAN-OS Vulns

Update Now
Ivanti Patches 3 Critical Flaws in Connect Secure and Policy Secure

Ivanti has released security updates for Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS), Ivanti Policy Secure (IPS), and Ivanti Secure Access Client (ISAC)...
Read More
Update Now  Ivanti Patches 3 Critical Flaws in Connect Secure and Policy Secure

This Adtech Company is Powering Surveillance of U.S. Military Personnel

Last year, a joint investigation revealed that a Florida-based data broker, Datastream Group, was selling highly sensitive location data that...
Read More
This Adtech Company is Powering Surveillance of U.S. Military Personnel

Intel Patched 374 Vulnerabilities in multiple products

In 2024, Intel addressed a remarkable 374 vulnerabilities across its software, firmware, and hardware products, distributing bug bounty rewards for...
Read More
Intel Patched 374 Vulnerabilities in multiple products

ALSO READ:

Two-Thirds of UK Sites Vulnerable to Bad Bots: DataDome

The perpetrators gained unauthorized access to the “reference copies” of the electoral registers. These copies were specifically maintained by the Commission for research purposes and to verify the acceptability of political donations. The data included personal information like names and addresses of all registered voters in the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2022. The names of those registered as overseas voters were also exposed. The register did not contain any information about those who registered anonymously.

JBlake Moore, a cybersecurity advisor at ESET, expressed concern about the 15-month-long unnoticed attack. The authorities were not informed of any irregularities in their systems during this period.

Cybercriminals are most effective when operating in stealth mode, but it is uncommon for them to remain undetected for such an extended period. He expressed sadness at witnessing malicious individuals infiltrating and searching for a prolonged period, regardless of the attack’s complexity.

Social media users have also raised questions about why it took the Commission 10 months to notify the public about the incident.

                     Tweet of electoral commission of UK

According to the Commission’s official Twitter account, they took steps to safeguard their system by removing the actors involved, evaluating the full impact of the incident, collaborating with the National Cyber Security Centre and ICO, and implementing extra security measures. These precautions were necessary before the Commission publicly disclosed the incident.

There has been no evidence of the “hostile actor” affecting the security of UK elections, including the upcoming 2024 General Election. Accessing the data does not influence individuals’ ability to register, vote, or actively engage in democratic processes. It has no impact on the management of the electoral registers or on the running of elections.”

Furthermore, the attackers were able to breach the Electoral Commission’s email system, resulting in the exposure of additional personal information belonging to voters.

The Commission said the information affected in the breach “does not pose a high risk to individuals.” However, it had a duty to provide the August 8 notification “due to the high volume of personal data potentially viewed or removed during the cyber-attack” under Articles 33 and 34 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Commission has issued a statement expressing its sincere apology to all individuals impacted by the incident. Furthermore, the company has worked with security experts to investigate the issue and improve its system security to prevent future attacks.

The breach’s perpetrator remains unknown at this time. In recent years, there have been frequent accusations of Russia-linked actors targeting the electoral processes of nation-states.

It is not the first time voter information has been exposed. In March 2022, London voters’ personal details were accidentally leaked by their council. The leak occurred when emails were sent to the wrong recipients.

Check Also

Zuckerberg

Everything I Say Leaks,’ Zuckerberg Says in Leaked Meeting Audio

At an all-hands meeting at Meta on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg did not mention the company’s …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *