U.S. Voter Records From 19 States For Sale on Dark Web Forum

more than 35 million voter records for sale online

The voting records and information of more than 35 million U.S. voters have been discovered for sale on a popular Dark Web hacking forum, two security researcher firms say. 

According to a joint investigation by Anomali and Intel 471, the two firms reviewed the leaked data and determined it to be valid with a "high degree of confidence." 

"Anomali and Intel 471 researchers discovered dark web communications offering a large quantity of voter databases for sale," according to a blog post on Anomali's website. "The databases include valuable personally identifiable information and voting history. The disclosure reportedly affects 19 states and includes 23 million records for just three of the 19 states." 

The online security firms say the data contains crucial voter data, such as a person's full name, phone numbers, physical addresses, voting history, and other voting-related information. Some states consider this data to be public and already offer it for free, but other states do not. 

The person selling the data says that state's records for sale are "refreshed each Monday of every week," which suggests the person still has access to the state's compromised servers, or has a way to receive those updates through other channels. 

All 19 states combined will run you $42,000, but if you're looking for a specific state, you can pick up many of these voter lists for less than the cost of a new iPhone.

  • Georgia - $250
  • Idaho - $1,000
  • Iowa - $1,100
  • Kansas - $200
  • Kentucky - $2,000
  • Louisiana - $5,000 (3 million voters)
  • Minnesota - $150
  • Mississippi - $1,100
  • Montana - $1,000
  • New Mexico - $4,000
  • Oregon - $500
  • South Carolina - $2,500
  • South Dakota - $2,500
  • Tennessee - $2,500
  • Texas - $1,300 (14 million voters) 
  • Utah - $1,100
  • West Virginia - $500
  • Wisconsin - $12,500 (6 million voters)
  • Wyoming - $500

If a customer purchases one of the databases, the seller promises to keep their data up to date with weekly refreshes to the data. Anomali lab researchers estimate more than 35 million records are included in all 19 databases for sale online. 

While much of the information being offered by the illicit sellers online is already available for purchase through legitimate channels, rules govern who, and how that data can be accessed. For example, voter lists aren't supposed to be used for commercial purposes, or be republished online. 

Security researchers say that while the information being offered for sale may be available elsewhere, the discovery of state voter lists for sale on the Deep and Dark Web forums show demonstrate the ease bad actors can circumvent state rules and procedures in order to profit from voter data. 

They also warn that when those list are combined with other data breaches containing sensitive information (such as a person's social security number or driver's license), that can give bad actors key data points on creating a target profile for the U.S. electorate. 

That profile can be used by hackers and criminals to commit larger crimes, such as identity fraud, or even false submissions to change a voter's registration status online. That could have the effect of making legitimate voters ineligible to vote. 

Photos: Getty Images


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