Mexico's Entire Voter Database Made Accessible on Internet
Mexico's Entire Voter Database Made Accessible on Internet
Mexican authorities say all 87 million voters’ addresses and other details were left open to public view without a password
By Adam Tanner on April 22, 2016
The names and addresses of all 87 million Mexican voters were accessible on the Internet until early Friday, when authorities took action after a Texas-based security researcher alerted them to the vulnerability, Mexican election officials say. It is unclear when the list first became open to public view.
Chris Vickery, a Texan who said he found in December that he could view records on 191 million American voters, told Mexican authorities last week that anyone could view the Mexican voter information hosted on the cloud-computing site Amazon Web Services. The data lacked even the most basic security precautions such as a password, Vickery told the authorities.
Amazon Web Services did not immediately respond to telephone and email requests for comment Friday, but its website says it is up to customers to oversee the security of their stored data. “While AWS manages security of the cloud, security in the cloud is the responsibility of the customer,” the company writes. “Customers retain control of what security they choose to implement to protect their own content, platform, applications, systems and networks, no differently than they would for applications in an on-site datacenter.”
“The fact that this database is published to the public, it is not just a criminal offense, it is a national offense,” says Lorenzo Cordova Vianello, president of the Mexican National Electoral Institute, the body that organizes federal elections in Mexico. In a statement issued Friday, the Institute says it has filed a criminal complaint about the case with Mexico’s Special Prosecutor's Office for Electoral Crimes (FEPADE) and has notified the national cyber police.
More:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mexico-s-entire-voter-database-made-accessible-on-internet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScientificAmerican-News+%28Content%3A+News%29
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141425691
