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2.4 Million Ontario Voters' Private Info Compromised

Posted by Soulskill on from the only-maple-leafs-fans dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Elections Ontario, an agency tasked with the organization and conduct of general elections and by-elections in Canada's Ontario region, is warning voters about the loss and potential theft of two USB sticks containing private information of 2.4 million voters from approximately 20–25 electoral districts. The information at issue is limited to full name, gender, birth date, address, whether or not an elector voted in the last provincial election and any other personal information updates provided by voters to Elections Ontario during that time, as well as administrative codes used solely for election purposes. The information does not include how an individual voted."

5 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. What is this info doing on USB-sticks? by santax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What would be a valid reason to put that much info on 2 usb-sticks besides, wanting to sell it or altogether being to darn lazy to even think about security and consequences. Anyone?

    1. Re:What is this info doing on USB-sticks? by Sir_Sri · · Score: 2, Insightful

      moving data between computers. Not everyone knows how to do network sharing. they may also physically mail the encrypted USB sticks to people (or pass them around) for whatever reason. Ontario is a big place, and we've got about 13 million people over a large area, so there might be a lot of data moved around snail mail style by people who for whatever reason aren't linked up to a the central physical database.

      They may also have data for static analysis. The 'real' data might be updated constantly as people change addresses and so on, which is fine, but if you want to analyze voting patterns, say related to a investigation of robocalling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocall_scandal), you need the data preserved as it applied to a particular point in time.

  2. Encryption by subreality · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People think I'm paranoid because I encrypt all my drives... but when I lose a disk I never have to wonder if it potentially ended up in the wrong hands. Too bad it's only done by us loonies and not as standard practice everywhere.

  3. Well, I'm Probably On The List by TheSpoom · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So congratulations to the thief (or finder) for now knowing my birthday and former address.

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
  4. can only be accessed and read by... by game+kid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The information contained on the two sticks wasn't encrypted and the sticks themselves weren't password-protected - as they should have. Still, it can only be accessed and read by using internal Elections Ontario proprietary software or specialized commercial software applications.

    ...and the thieves, once they (quickly) figure out how the fields are arranged and stored.

    --
    You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.