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Data breach exposes Democrats' vulnerability (NGP VAN)
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/democrats-data-breach-vulnerability-216955Bernie Sanders’ peek into the Hillary Clinton voter files may be a bigger problem for Democrats than they might think.
Despite the party’s reputed tech edge that helped Barack Obama win the White House in 2008 and 2012, Democrats are almost completely dependent on the software service company being blamed for the security breach: NGP VAN. The fiasco, which has left the party’s two leading presidential contenders sparring over access to a national voter database, suddenly bolsters longstanding warnings that relying on one giant information provider is a bad idea.
Story Continued Below
"It’s a monopoly that’s been created and forced down the throats of all Democrats,” John Phillips, co-founder of the non-partisan political data firm Aristotle, told POLITICO. "Monopolies are notorious for overcharging their customers, screwing their customers. That’s what’s been going on on the Democratic side for quite some time."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/democrats-data-breach-vulnerability-216955#ixzz3uiyldMM2
Despite the party’s reputed tech edge that helped Barack Obama win the White House in 2008 and 2012, Democrats are almost completely dependent on the software service company being blamed for the security breach: NGP VAN. The fiasco, which has left the party’s two leading presidential contenders sparring over access to a national voter database, suddenly bolsters longstanding warnings that relying on one giant information provider is a bad idea.
Story Continued Below
"It’s a monopoly that’s been created and forced down the throats of all Democrats,” John Phillips, co-founder of the non-partisan political data firm Aristotle, told POLITICO. "Monopolies are notorious for overcharging their customers, screwing their customers. That’s what’s been going on on the Democratic side for quite some time."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/democrats-data-breach-vulnerability-216955#ixzz3uiyldMM2
The NGP VAN data breach already has prompted a quick reaction from NationBuilder, a Los Angeles-based startup founded by liberal activists but that now caters to both parties. In 2012, NationBuilder actually accused NGP VAN of spreading rumors that it was an arms dealers that might tip donors’ lists to the enemy.
In a statement Friday, NationBuilder said it isolates each customer's database from the start, so it couldn't have a glitch like the one that appears to have arisen in NGP-VAN's platform, which holds all the campaigns' data in a shared database. "Access to data that a campaign has purchased and managed should always be secure and should never be cut off," said CEO Jim Gilliam.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/democrats-data-breach-vulnerability-216955#ixzz3uiywAI6s
In a statement Friday, NationBuilder said it isolates each customer's database from the start, so it couldn't have a glitch like the one that appears to have arisen in NGP-VAN's platform, which holds all the campaigns' data in a shared database. "Access to data that a campaign has purchased and managed should always be secure and should never be cut off," said CEO Jim Gilliam.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/democrats-data-breach-vulnerability-216955#ixzz3uiywAI6s
No clean hands.
