UK Electoral Commission registers targeted by ‘hostile’ hackers | Hacking

The UK’s elections watchdog has been targeted by a cyber-attack which allowed “hostile actors” to access electoral registers.

The Electoral Commission revealed it had been hacked but was “not able to know conclusively” what information had been accessed.

It said, however, that the largely paper-based process of elections meant it would be very hard for hackers to influence the outcome of a vote.

The incident was identified in October 2022, but attackers first accessed the commission’s systems in August 2021.

The commission’s chief executive, Shaun McNally, said: “The UK’s democratic process is significantly dispersed and key aspects of it remain based on paper documentation and counting.

“This means it would be very hard to use a cyber-attack to influence the process. Nevertheless, the successful attack on the Electoral Commission highlights that organisations involved in elections remain a target, and need to remain vigilant to the risks to processes around our elections.”