In a recent shocking revelation, the UK has witnessed its most substantial data breach to date. The **Electoral Commission**, an independent body set up by the UK Parliament, confirmed that “hostile actors” penetrated its protective digital barriers, allowing unauthorized access to its systems for a staggering 14 months. This extensive breach potentially means that the private details of nearly every UK voter registered between 2014 and 2022 have been exposed.
The vast scope and duration of the unauthorized access have sent shockwaves throughout the cybersecurity community and the general public. The fact that malicious actors could remain undetected for over a year has raised critical questions about the UK’s digital defenses against cyber threats.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the **Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)** has come forward about another unfortunate data mishap. Thousands of officers and civilian staff had their personal data inadvertently revealed due to a mistakenly processed freedom of information request, adding to the concerns over data protection in the UK.
The **National Cyber Security Centre**, a government agency responsible for providing advice and support for the public and private sector in avoiding cyber threats, has taken up the investigation. There’s heightened speculation regarding the nature of this breach. Could it be a coordinated attack from a foreign state? With increasing instances of cyber warfare, the likelihood isn’t off the table.
David Omand, a former director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UK’s premier intelligence and security organization, didn’t hold back in pointing fingers. He specifically highlighted **Russia’s repeated history of meddling in democratic processes** across different nations. The 2016 US election interference is a notable example, reinforcing the suspicion surrounding this recent breach.
In the political realm, **Tory MP Simon Fell**, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on cyber security, voiced his deep concerns. According to Fell, the vast scale of this breach is alarming. While some information might be available in the public domain, the consolidation of such data in one place makes it a treasure trove for entities wishing to harm the nation. The list of usual suspects behind such a large-scale attack, as per Fell, includes Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. However, Russia’s consistent history with electoral interference puts them on top of the list.
Amidst the growing concerns, Shaun McNally, the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission, offered a public apology. He assured that while the breach was significant, the very nature of the UK’s democratic process – dispersed and heavily reliant on paper documentation – would make it exceedingly challenging for a cyber-attack to directly influence electoral outcomes.
11 Responses
“The attack on the Electoral Commission is concerning – one concern here is that the stolen data could help to fuel future cyber-attacks and other types of fraud. Also, if a nation-state actor was at work here, this data could be used to boost any influence campaigns they are running against UK targets, in an effort to support that nation’s competitive agenda.
The fact that name and home address data has been stolen is worrying, as it could contribute to targeted social engineering attacks on the victims involved. My message to voters who may have been affected is to remain vigilant for future scam messages or other communications that may use your name and address to purport legitimacy, and to react with appropriate suspicion. Staying alert and not clicking on suspicious links or providing personal details, whether financial or password related, is the best way to stay protected from all types of phishing emails.
Organisations should learn from this latest breach by ensuring they’re doing everything they can to protect themselves and their data in a world where new cyber risks and dangers are evolving at compute speed. We’ve seen that increased employee flexibility around remote working practices often means increased cybersecurity risks. As a result, organisations must work with their staff to create strong cybersecurity habits so best-practice becomes second nature. To mitigate against cyber threats, regular education and phishing simulations are a must, and all employees and companies must stay updated with current trends. Rather than viewing data protection as a box-ticking exercise, it should be a key priority and integrated into every aspect of an organisation. Employee awareness and vigilance is the most powerful tool in the Cyber Resilience kit-bag.”
“Hackers are a patient bunch. Two years in a victim’s systems is far from unheard of. Equally worrying is the Electoral Commission’s inability to identify what the attackers were scoping out to begin with and may well have stolen. As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know. Clearly, the Commission doesn’t have the necessary cybersecurity fundamentals in place, and they’ve admitted as much. An always-on, global view of vulnerabilities and their exploitation is mission-critical for organisations. The silver lining? The cure for negligence tends to be a wakeup call of this sort.”
“Based on the information available, it sounds like the attack is still being investigated, but this incident does have the potential to put thousands, even millions, of British citizens at risk.
The Electoral Commission has stated it doesn’t know what information has been viewed or copied, but with the information stored on their servers relating to home addresses, telephone numbers and emails, attackers could now use this data to send out highly sophisticated phishing scams, especially those in relation to this incident. It is wise to therefore treat email correspondence relating to the breach with caution and to avoid clicking on links in emails or giving away personal information.
It sounds like the attackers initially gained access to the Electoral Commission’s systems via a compromised login, as it was suspicious login attempts that first alerted them to the breach. This once again highlights how compromised logins can offer criminals with unfiltered corporate network access, which is very difficult to spot because the login does not appear malicious.
The only way to counter this threat is by removing passwords from employee hands so they can’t be stolen. Using modern identity management tools, organisations can remove passwords and credentials from employees, instead offering them access to all the applications they need by distributing encrypted credentials. When no one sees or knows these access keys, they can’t be stolen by criminals, which closes doors on security incidents like the one impacting the Electoral Commission today.”
“Government institutions like the Electoral Commission are a data goldmine. Holding huge swathes of highly confidential and personal data relating to the public, they are a key target for cybercriminals, either as part of ransomware initiatives, or ongoing scams. Data protection needs to be at the forefront. Not only is this a risk to sensitive public data, but it also impacts the democracy of elections.
“In 2022, the Tory leadership election was delayed over potential security related concerns, which highlights the importance of integrity when handling this sort of data, and this truly hammers home the significance of this breach. As more details come around how threat actors gained access to the Electoral Commissions systems, it’ll become clearer as to how they could have been best positioned to fend off such an attack.
“At a minimum, it’s critical to have a 360-degree understanding of the potential attack surface within government IT systems, with constant testing to ensure security is flexible. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to cybersecurity, as this breach has demonstrated, and integrating an adaptable, shifting approach to security can limit the impact of attackers living under the radar inside networks.”
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A breach on the Electoral Commission sounds critical and important, and the news is getting a lot of attention. However, looking at the incident more closely, the fact it was identified in October 2022 and is only being reported now, suggests the impact wasn’t critical. This is also illustrated by the fact the PII breached was limited, with most of the information already being in the public domain, and the breach has not affected the rights or access to the democratic process or affected electoral registration status. I’m more concerned that the measures they’ve stated as having taken to prevent future attacks look reactive and basic. While they are increasing their overall alerting to suspicious login activity, it doesn’t suggest an improvement in the overall security maturity of their electoral assets and whether or not they will undergo sufficient automated and human testing. Many other government agencies, including the NCSC, already take an advanced approach to security testing and engage with the ethical hacking community to report any potential vulnerabilities.
“Proactive measures and ongoing improvements are vital not only to safeguard critical processes but also to maintain public confidence in our institutions’ data security practices and the electoral system.
The Electoral Commission’s experience proves that cybersecurity is not a one-time installation but an ongoing process needing regular assessment and remediation. The fact that attackers accessed systems in 2021, yet the incident was identified only in 2022, highlights the importance of building resilience, whether that’s to fend off nation-state attacks or the more common profit-motivated cyberattacks.
Cybersecurity is not an ‘install and forget about it’ job but a process that must be Operationalized to ensure continual improvement and baked into business process. If we take away just one learning from this incident it is that security processes and events need to be in a continuous state of ‘assess, detect, respond and automate’ in order to deal with these situations effectively.”
“While much of the information may be public domain, there will be many individuals potentially at risk who use the electoral roll opt-out as an easy way to keep themselves safe from stalkers, or abusive ex-partners.
The FAQ notes that “The addresses of those who opt out of the open register, are not made publicly available, but were accessible during this cyber-attack”. There is a way to secure anonymous voting, but the steps are potentially complicated and require court documents or attestations from authorised individuals. I suspect people would simply rely on the opt-out rather going down that route, with the opt-out now likely a little bit less useful due to the compromise.
At the very least, I would hope for email notification warning of the breach instead of hoping people see the .gov page then taking action appropriate to their personal situation”.
“Based on the current information disclosed, it looks like a slow and low attack. However, while the impact of the attack is low, the fact it was undetected for so long will leave questions about what else attackers were doing as it doesn’t take that long to steal that data.
Government departments will always be a top target for hostile actors because of the lucrative data they hold and potential for mass disruption. However, the attack does highlight the need for a more agile response to security incidents, especially as we start to see more AI-based attacks that can evade defences. This means shifting away from static, network-based security models to focus on users, assets, and resources.
The reality is we will never be able to prevent all attacks, particularly those from nation-states with an unlimited arsenal of funds and resources. If not already, every government department must take steps to strengthen defences internally to prevent the spread of similar attacks. This can be achieved by ring-fencing and protecting high-value applications and data; restricting access to only that which is critical and necessary.”
“The recent revelation of a data breach affecting the UK’s registered voters is deeply concerning, both because of its scale and the significant delay in its disclosure. This incident underscores the pressing need to evaluate organizational preparedness in both preventing and responding to security threats.
With limited resources, both human and technological, security teams must strategically identify assets that hold sensitive data. The focused approach enables them to efficiently allocate resources to strengthen security controls such as login requirements, access policies, and firewall rules for pivotal data systems. Given the myriad of alerts that SOC teams process daily, it’s paramount to prioritize notifications associated with these critical systems, ensuring a rapid and effective incident response.
It’s also essential for organizations to recognize that their primary defenses could be breached. Therefore, encrypting sensitive data serves as a pivotal secondary measure, ensuring exposed data remains worthless to attackers.
Timely response to breaches is another key facet of security readiness. Even seemingly benign data, when merged with public records, can be weaponized to profile and potentially jeopardize individuals. Automating breach analysis and notification mechanisms can expedite communication to those affected, allowing them to take protective actions more swiftly.
Modern strategies, such as data security posture management (DSPM), present a holistic framework for establishing a resilient defense against escalating data threats in our increasingly digital age.”
“This was a lengthy sustained cyber-attack designed not only to steal incremental amounts of personal data but also to expose weaknesses in the UK democratic system. The electoral register database is a prime target for any hostile bad actors who consistently target the UK, and it represents a particularly gloomy outlook on the state of privacy in the UK.
Unfortunately, data breaches like this are increasingly common. They can affect any service—from local small businesses to larger government organisations. The cyberattack on the Electoral Commission truly reminds us that cybersecurity affects us all, and no institution is exempt from cyber threats.
While the watchdog insisted the breach “does not pose a high risk” to individuals, it said the data obtained could be matched to other information in the public domain and used to “infer patterns of behaviour or to identify and profile” people. While this situation is troubling for millions of UK citizens, it is important to make clear that there are ways to improve the situation if you are victim of the data breach.
To secure your personal information, start by checking if your email has been exposed in data breaches. If so, update the password of the compromised account as well as any other accounts that use the same compromised password. It’s critical that you don’t repeat passwords on different accounts, and ideally choose long, complex, random ones. For added protection, enable two-factor authentication on your personal accounts where possible.”
Although not all the details are known on this attack, it’s another example of how malicious hackers are targeting government entities and, most worryingly, are able to stay under the radar of detection for so long.
When attackers are focused on espionage or disinformation, they prefer to use techniques that are stealthy so they can remain hidden and undetected for long periods. The motives for such attacks are typically either nation state supported or mercenary hackers with the goals of selling the information to cybercriminals who will then target and abuse the victims with voting related phishing scams.
The Commission’s network represents a goldmine for attackers – in this case voter names, addresses and email addresses are now in their hands – which can all be used to fuel further scams. While these types of attacks may not be able to change the outcome of any election vote, they can target the victims or create disinformation campaigns now they know who to target. One of the most important values of voting systems is the trust in these systems and any data breach decreases the trust.
It’s a stark reminder that putting in place the appropriate security controls around data is more important than ever as attackers seek new ways to gain access, steal credentials, and exfiltrate sensitive data.