Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
theguardian.com
Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
1–10 of 41 posts
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#2While the data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain
What is not generally in the public domain is the National Insurance number, mandatory on electoral registration since 2015, very useful for impersonation purposes. I wonder if they got those?
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#3While the data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain What is not generally in the public domain is the National Insurance number, mandatory on electoral registration since 2015, very useful for impersonation purposes. I wonder if they got those?
I tried to take myself off it using the webpage, I couldnt remove myself only change my name.
Dont see the point of being on it, I wont be voting ever again!
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#4While the data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain What is not generally in the public domain is the National Insurance number, mandatory on electoral registration since 2015, very useful for impersonation purposes. I wonder if they got those?
I tried to take myself off it using the webpage, I couldnt remove myself only change my name. Dont see the point of being on it, I wont be voting ever again!
It is a criminal offence to not register.
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried to take myself off it using the webpage, I couldnt remove myself only change my name. Dont see the point of being on it, I wont be voting ever again!
It is a criminal offence to not register.
> It is a criminal offence to not register.
Afaik that is not correct. It is a criminal offence to refuse to complete the registration form or to give false information. But if you're not asked ro register then no offence is committed.
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is a criminal offence to not register.
> It is a criminal offence to not register. Afaik that is not correct. It is a criminal offence to refuse to complete the registration form or to give false information. But if you're not asked ro register then no offence is committed.
I stand corrected, they are generally rather persistent in asking though ...
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#7While the data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain What is not generally in the public domain is the National Insurance number, mandatory on electoral registration since 2015, very useful for impersonation purposes. I wonder if they got those?
This is another good case for security-by-minimisation. I struggle to see why NI numbers were required on the electoral register — particularly when democracy in the UK had been functioning for over a century without them.
The best way to ensure valuable data doesn’t leak into the public realm is to minimise the amount of unnecessary data collection.
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#8While the data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain What is not generally in the public domain is the National Insurance number, mandatory on electoral registration since 2015, very useful for impersonation purposes. I wonder if they got those?
This is another good case for security-by-minimisation. I struggle to see why NI numbers were required on the electoral register — particularly when democracy in the UK had been functioning for over a century without them. The best way to ensure valuable data doesn’t leak into the public realm is to minimise the amount of unnecessary data collection.
I struggle to see why NI numbers were required on the electoral register
I don't, they were introduced shortly after the plans for an ID card died out. It's simply a proxy ID register.
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is a criminal offence to not register.
> It is a criminal offence to not register. Afaik that is not correct. It is a criminal offence to refuse to complete the registration form or to give false information. But if you're not asked ro register then no offence is committed.
Apparently you must register to vote. You can opt out of the extended register. [1]
Not being on the electoral register is a huge pain too. It affects your credit quite significantly.
[1] https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500328/voting/6470/regist...
Re: Millions of UK voters’ data accessible in cyber-attack
#10While the data contained in the electoral registers is limited, and much of it is already in the public domain What is not generally in the public domain is the National Insurance number, mandatory on electoral registration since 2015, very useful for impersonation purposes. I wonder if they got those?
While officially they serve a similar purpose, NI numbers aren't used like SSNs are for identification, so the impersonation impact is more limited than an equivalent leak of US SSNs would be.