Russian hackers leak personal data of nearly every voter in Michigan

Eric

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And here we go, Trump has effectively stopped all briefings around foreign interference and now we're starting to see why.

From Meduza
Russian hackers leak personal data of nearly every voter in Michigan, plus a million more voters in four other states
Russian hackers have leaked the personal data of nearly every voter in Michigan (7.6 million of the state’s 7.8 million voters), as well as the information of another million voters in Arkansas, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Florida, according to the newspaper Kommersant. The data recently appeared on a Darknet forum, posted by a user nicknamed “Gorka9.” The information was current as of March 2020 and a source at the security firm “InfoWatch” confirmed to Kommersant that the data is authentic.

For each American voter targeted in the leak, the following information is now available: full name, date of birth, sex, date of registration, home address, zip code, email address, voter ID number, and polling station number.
put_hac.jpg
 
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User.45

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Totally expected. Look at the update. It's also funny. No need to worry, these data can be had through FOIA...
 

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Eric

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Totally expected. Look at the update. It's also funny. No need to worry, these data can be had through FOIA...
Wait, so they willingly gave it up upon request so it can be posted for everyone to see? That makes no sense.
 

lizkat

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Exactly. It's a bullshit response to mitigate the blow.


So it was hacked.... but to say "so what", the Rs are pointing out that one could have filed an FOIA to get it so "it doesn't matter".

Great. Someone broke in my back door and took my TV set? But they could have rolled up in a van with some fake logo on it, knocked on the front door and shown me a fake recall notice and offered to get it fixed more promptly if I just filled out some forms?​

Always good to know. /S
 

yaxomoxay

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But is it really??? You need to have either the voter ID, OR ("First name" AND "Last name" AND "DOB").

Which in most cases it's easy to find, especially if you cross reference it to the info on the appraisal district. I believe you can also do an Open Records Request to obtain all the info without having to go through the DOB and "security" features. Voter rolls are public info and they are routinely used by the public to audit voter frauds and other stuff... and they are used by political parties to know who votes and when.
 

yaxomoxay

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Here's a good list by state: https://www.ncsl.org/research/elect...s-to-and-use-of-voter-registration-lists.aspx

Michigan:

State

Who can request the voter file?

What information does the file contain?

What is kept confidential?

What can the file be used for?

Programs to keep voter information confidential?

Any person may request the voter file.

Name, address, year of birth

DL number, last 4 of SSN, month and day of birth, phone number, information that a person declined to register to vote, the office that received a registered voter's application, digitized signature.

Not specified.

N/A
 

Lostngone

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Real question is what else do they have. This was clearly just to show proof that they did it so what else did they get?
 

yaxomoxay

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Real question is what else do they have. This was clearly just to show proof that they did it so what else do they have?

Well, it would depend on what they did. If they submitted a FOIA request that was erroneously processed, then we have one kind of a problem. If they coordinated with someone in Michigan to have the FOIA request done, then it's another problem. If they hacked, then it's another problem. Honestly, the raw info doesn't provide evidence or anything as they just released information that is already public.

However, it makes it for a great clickbaity title.

Edit: also, going by the OP's snippet, they didn't "hack" but they "leaked".
 

Lostngone

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Well, it would depend on what they did. If they submitted a FOIA request that was erroneously processed, then we have one kind of a problem. If they coordinated with someone in Michigan to have the FOIA request done, then it's another problem. If they hacked, then it's another problem. Honestly, the raw info doesn't provide evidence or anything as they just released information that is already public.

However, it makes it for a great clickbaity title.

Edit: also, going by the OP's snipped, they didn't "hack" but they "leaked".

I’m pretty sure this was a hack that kind of freedom of information request would’ve been pretty large and would’ve set some flags/alarms off.
But of course I have no proof of that however I doubt we will hear whole story from the state of Michigan about how deep the hackers got.
 

yaxomoxay

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I’m pretty sure this was a hack that kind of freedom of information request would’ve been pretty large and would’ve said some flags/alarms off.

No it's not. Voter rolls are routinely requested by political entities, citizens, and groups in general. It's public info. Now, in some states it's easier to obtain than in others, but the bottom line is that it's public info which is probaby sent as an excel file. Also, technically, FOIA requests should not be used to "raise red flags", which could be seen as retailation. This is why every year I submit FOIA's on myself to all the gov't agencies.
 
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User.45

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I’m pretty sure this was a hack that kind of freedom of information request would’ve been pretty large and would’ve set some flags/alarms off.
But of course I have no proof of that however I doubt we will hear whole story from the state of Michigan about how deep the hackers got.
Agree. To me the response from Michigan's state department actually confirmed the validity of the info...
 

yaxomoxay

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Agree. To me the response from Michigan's state department actually confirmed the validity of the info...

The info is valid. The "hacking" part a bit less. A list of names obtainable through public request does not validate any claim.
 
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User.45

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No it's not. Voter rolls are routinely requested by political entities, citizens, and groups in general. It's public info. Now, in some states it's easier to obtain than in others, but the bottom line is that it's public info which is probaby sent as an excel file. Also, technically, FOIA requests should not be used to "raise red flags", which could be seen as retailation. This is why every year I submit FOIA's on myself to all the gov't agencies.
It's the scale that is the concerning. Also, can you tell me about your requests? It sounds like a cool idea.
 
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User.45

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The info is valid. The "hacking" part a bit less. A list of names obtainable through public request does not validate any claim.
But hacking or not it doesn't matter. Matched with personal emails, that data is good enough to target via FaceBook.
 
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