The Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office in Florida announced on May 31, 2023 that a cyberattack had exposed personal information belonging to about 58,000 registered voters. The office had disclosed the attack itself on May 4, 2023, the day after it was detected.
Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer said an unauthorized user gained access to files on a shared drive on the office network on May 3, 2023 and appeared to have illegally accessed and copied documents containing personal identification information. The affected files came mainly from the state mandated process by which the office continually reviews its voter roll to identify necessary updates. Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers were among the data copied.
Officials stressed that the county's voter registration system and its ballot tabulation system were not affected. Both sit behind additional layers of security and are kept separate from the office's general file storage.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were notified and opened an investigation into what the office described as criminal cyber activity. Notification letters were mailed to affected voters during the week of the announcement. No group claimed responsibility, and officials did not say whether a ransom had been demanded.
Sources
- Hillsborough confirms a cyberattack exposed the personal information for 58,000 votersWUSF Public Media
- Data breach impacts 58,000 Hillsborough votersSpectrum Bay News 9
- Letters mailed to 58,000 voters impacted by data breach at Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections OfficeFOX 13 Tampa Bay
- Officials are investigating a cyberattack at the Hillsborough County elections officeWUSF Public Media