Security News FBI tells public to ignore false claims of hacked voter data

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Content source

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-tells-public-to-ignore-false-claims-of-hacked-voter-data/

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are alerting the public of false claims that the U.S. voter registration data has been compromised in cyberattacks.

The two agencies note that malicious actors are spreading disinformation to manipulate public "opinion and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions."

According to the PSA, the actors present publicly accessible data as evidence of the hacks.

"Malicious actors continue to spread false or misleading information in an attempt to manipulate public opinion and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions," the announcement reads.

"One of the most common tactics involves using obtained voter registration information as evidence to support false claims that a cyber operation compromised election infrastructure."

Voter registration data is publicly available and can be acquired from official sources, the PSA explains, so holding or republishing it does not constitute evidence of a compromise of voting infrastructure.

In terms of the practical consequences of foreign actors holding that information, FBI and CISA underline that it has no impact on the voting process or the election results.

FBI tells public to ignore false claims of hacked voter data

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are alerting the public of false claims that the U.S. voter registration data has been compromised in cyberattacks.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[bazang]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are alerting the public of false claims that the U.S. voter registration data has been compromised in cyberattacks.

In the U.S., voter names, addresses, DOB, party affiliation, and other voter data are public information and either available freely or by a formal request. The infos available varies by state but in most cases someone can easily obtain a person's address, phone, DOB, etc without much effort. One does not even need voter registration databases. It is so trivial to get personally identifying information online. Some states place their voter registration infos behind a paywall thinking that they are protecting the citizens, but in reality all that data is available elsewhere and easily accessible.

https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/access-to-and-use-of-voter-registration-lists

VoteRef

voteref.com

Some occupations are prohibited from being listed - judges, district attorneys, certain state and federal officials, investigators, law enforcement, certain agency senior agency personnel, certain DoD roles, etc. Either that or just do not register to vote. A registered voter may not opt-out of having their infos made public information - which again does not matter as most everyone's data is already public infos.

The "moral" of the story is that it does not matter if voter infos was hacked. The data is and has been out there all the time and easily accessible for the past 50 years. In today's world, living in fear of "My data has been hacked and thrown onto the Dark Web" is wasted mental and emotional energy.

 

[oldschool]

Can't imagine who the malicious actors are.

 

[Chuck57]

The voter registrations don't concern me. It's the machines and how easily they can be tampered with that raise all sorts of red flags.

 

[bazang]

Can't imagine who the malicious actors are.

Everybody from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. All of them want a piece of America's ass and try to bring it down internally. The citizens can do that themselves. External influence is not required.

It's the machines and how easily they can be tampered with that raise all sorts of red flags.

It is your tax dollars paying for all those insecure digital voting machines. The vulns run from insecure hardware to database vulns to data processing and transmission security issues. Nothing unusual here. The device I am using and the device you are using are just as bad, if not worse.

Back in the day during a plebiscite in Iraq, everybody had to dip their thumb in purple ink that could not be removed easily and then affix their thumbprint to the ballot and the voter list. That protection measure was an epic fail as it was what happened to the manually exercised ballots after voting ended that was manipulated to ensure certain individuals were elected.

Every foreign nation I have been to requires a national ID to vote. And here in America the activists say that such an ID will exclude marginalized groups. Now someone please explain to me how 100% of dirt-poor waaaaayyyyy-more-marginalized-than-any-group-of-Americans Iraqis all managed to obtain a national ID and had to not only pay for it, they all walked to register for it and pick it up????? You think most Iraqi streets will accomodate a HoverRound? If you are handicapped in Iraq, your child or nephew puts you into a wagon and wheels you to wherever you gotta do official government biz.

Meanwhile, the claims of voter machine tampering are blown way out of proportion. The elections process will forever be tainted by claims of election interference on social media. The threat actors don't even have to do anything to the voting machines. All they need do is rile-up people that are sensitive to conspiracies and reactionary, and those individuals will whip themselves up into a frenzy and undermine it all by casting doubt on the election processes. The 1% on the far left and right will inject 98% of the FUD into America's elections. The vast majority of it via social media. There are no more than 3 million hardcore activists on both the left and right. Yet that tiny portion of the population on both ends of the political spectrum are victimizing the 70% silent majority that just want problems fixed by bringing extreme division, instability and turmoil to the country. They've done it already. All the threat actors need to do is stand back and watch the stupid activist Americans tear the nation apart. This is the very same thing that happened during 1920s Weimar Germany that set the stage for we-all-know-who to ascend to power. About 1,200 miles away it was an opposite ideological ascendancy under the same circumstances, but resulting in tens of millions of internal deaths. We-all-know-who that guy was too.

Politics is evil when it prevents opposite sides from getting together and solving problems. Like not buying insecure voting machines.

Politics is evil when it makes the world less safe. Like not prioritizing security much more as a fundamental societal problem. Cyber losses will reach 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP) within the next 5 years. That's OK. They'll pass all that cost on to you - the consumer, your government which will pay without question using your tax dollars, and businesses will add 25% to prices.