Million US Voter Records Discovered Just Chilling Online

‘Sitting right in front of my eyes, in a odd, random database I had found on the Internet, were details that could lead anyone straight to me.

While voter data is typically considered public information, it would be time-consuming and expensive to gather a database of all American voters.

“From what we’ve seen, the voter information included is already publicly available from each state government, so no new or private information was released in this database”, NationBuilder Chief Executive Officer Jim Gilliam said in a statement, Reuters reported. “The mysterious, insecure database is now configured for public access”.

“Oh man. I deal with criminals every day who know my name”, a cop, who was alerted to the leaky database, told Reuters earlier today.

“The alarming part is that the information is so concentrated”, he said. The researcher said he was alarmed to find his own information, which he confirmed was entirely accurate, in the database.

Databreaches.net, CSO and Vickery all report that after seven days of related queries to organizations that might be responsible for amassing and selling this type of voter information, they have been unable to identify the owner of the misconfigured database.

The FBI and the California Attorney General’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Just last week, Chris Vickery exposed that the personal information, including e-mail addresses, user names, and password hints of 3.3 million users with the website of SanrioTown.com, home to Hello Kitty, was freely available online, according to C|net.

Many states do provide some access to their voter data but generally limit its use and distribution to protect voter confidentiality, according to DataBreaches.net. In South Dakota, those requesting access to voter data must confirm that the information “may not be used or sold for any commercial objective and may not be placed for unrestricted access on the Internet”.

“Privacy regulations are required so a person’s political information can be kept private and safe”, Chester said. Sanrio reported that after conducting a digital forensic investigation of the apparently exposed database – as well as two other Internet-connected and likewise unsecured backup servers – it found that Vickery was the only outsider to have accessed the data.