Hackers may have accessed D.C. voter information, officials say
The FBI, Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, Department of Homeland Security and D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer are among the agencies investigating the breach. The D.C. Board of Elections took down its main website after learning it was the source of the breach, and replaced it with a maintenance page. The agency also said it had conducted vulnerability scans on its database, server and other IT networks.
Sarah Graham, director of communications for the elections board, said the hacking group had not requested a ransom from the agency related to the data breach — a common tactic from hacking groups who illegally obtain sensitive information and then threaten to publish it online. Graham also said there was no estimate of how long the agency’s website will be down.
Some voter registration data maintained by the elections board is public information, like voter names, addresses, party affiliation and whether an individual voted. But District regulations require other voter data — birthdays, contact information, where they registered, and full or partial social security numbers — to remain confidential. The elections board does not maintain information on voters’ specific choices.
DataNet, whose website says its clients have included several notable city agencies like the D.C. Council, D.C. police, D.C. Fire/EMS and the city’s Department of General Services, among others, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The ransomware group that appears to have taken credit for the breach calls itself RansomedVC. It previously claimed to be behind a hack of Sony…