Cyberlitica, Inc, a provider of Dark Web monitoring and cyber awareness services, announced today that its research team has discovered that at least 25 states’ confidential voter registration databases (including those from Florida, Georgia, Texas, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania) are openly for sale on the Dark Web. Additional states whose voter databases appear to be for sale include those from Colorado, Washington, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Nevada, Oklahoma and Delaware. This newly discovered finding underscores the pervasive, real-time threat to individuals’ most personal information– and its potential degradation of the American democratic process.
At a minimum, individuals may be targeted for influencing and political messaging. Voters in states such as Georgia are particularly susceptible to possible issues on Election Day; The State of Georgia has an “exact match” law, requiring that there be no discrepancy between a voter’s registration information and the identification they might use to cast a ballot. “If a hacker were to modify an election record such that it did not match the identification information presented by the prospective voter at the polling station, the voter could be precluded from casting their ballot,” warned Cyberlitica’s Founder & CEO, Bob Schiff.
What’s more, state voter information (which might include, but which might not be limited to, home address, age, phone numbers, voter affiliation, voting history and birthdates) can be misused by a hacker for a host of other illicit purposes. “We believe this potential vulnerability must be addressed by the various state election systems immediately– especially now that early election periods for many states has already begun,” said Schiff.
According to a statement from the organization, “Cyberlitica offers threat intelligence solutions to employers and organizations of all sizes and across all industries. It provides Dark Web audit and monitoring services, identifying risk from where it originates… The Dark Web. It delivers 24x7x365 Dark Web monitoring and notification services, as well the most cutting edge insights, professional services and customized training solutions that significantly mitigate risk.”
