Alaskan Voters Exposed Online

Fact checked
Alaskan

A database containing the records of nearly 600,000 Alaskan voters was left exposed on the web before being discovered by security researchers.

A misconfigured CouchDB database software containing private records of 593,328 US citizens was discovered by researchers at the Kromtech Security Center.

The data firm responsible for the records say that only the security researchers who discovered the breach were able to access the data.

ZDNet verified a small sample of the records.

The Hill reports:

Each record contained names, addresses, voting preferences, dates of birth, marital status and ethnicity and some contained information like gun ownership, children’s ages and issues a campaign might try to appeal to.

The information was ultimately exposed through a misconfigured database.

The voter database was originally compiled by TargetSmart, a leading broker of voter data, but appears to have been stored in a misconfigured online database by the marketing group Equals3 which purchased the list from TargetSmart.

Equals3 held the data in a misconfigured CouchDB database, leaving it without security controls.

TargetSmart is best known for its work as a contractor for the Democratic National Committee, but has also worked with businesses including NBC news. According to its website, TargetSmart’s national VoterBase database contains 191 million voters and 58 million unregistered voters.

“Thousands of campaigns each year rely on the unparalleled accuracy of VoterBase data to power their fundraising, research, and voter contact programs,” reads the site.

Equals3 advertises itself as an artificial-intelligence-based service to help target marketing campaigns offering “sophisticated market research, complicated audience establishment, and flawless media plans.”

Misconfigured databases are a common way information is exposed to the web.

The database was secured and later pulled offline Monday, according to ZDNet.

See AlsoPresident Trump Launches Probe Into 25 Million Fake Clinton Votes

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.