Data on 198M voters exposed by RNC contractor

[cvoogt]

Source: The Hill

A data analytics contractor employed by the Republican National Committee (RNC) left databases containing information on nearly 200 million potential voters exposed to the internet without security, allowing anyone who knew where to look to download it without a password.

"We take full responsibility for this situation," said the contractor, Deep Root Analytics, in a statement.

The databases were part of 25 terabytes of files contained in an Amazon cloud account that could be browsed without logging in. The leaky account was discovered by researcher Chris Vickery of the security firm UpGuard. The files have since been secured.

Vickery is a prominent researcher in uncovering improperly secured files online. But, he said, this exposure is of a magnitude he has never seen before

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/338383-data-on-198-million-us-voters-left-exposed-to-the-internet-by-rnc-data

[lostnfound]

1. Accidentally on purpose?

[cvoogt]

2. Suddenly the Russian interference looks tiny

happy side effect?

[Pachamama]

3. How "conven-ient"....

[rogue emissary]

4. Well you don't have to give voter information to the Russians when you don't secure it.

Also, they don't have to hack the RNC when you don't secure this information.

From the end of the article.

What is uncommon in this case is the size and scope of this exposure. If its records are accurate, the Deep Root Analytics exposure contains information on more than half of the American population.

[pnwmom]

15. Even more than "more than half" because a fourth of the population

is under 18.

[Sunlei]

5. twitter WILL turn over all the private messages republicans/trump sent, along with

any cell phone records.

Read the EULA Republicans, your phone services, facebook, twitter accounts will turn over records to authorities. And they save all that stuff forever, so don't think deleting did you any good.

And Mr. Trump don't think ANYONE is interested in your Porn viewing habit or pee pee Porn video collection (unless they're underage child victims)

[rogue emissary]

6. Kick.

Because I think this is a lot bigger than most think.

[Sunlei]

7. just like they knew the classified report was printed 6 times, RNC amazon cloud should know who was

using that LIST OF VOTERS.

[riversedge]

8. 'exposure contains information on more than half of the American population. '

.....What is uncommon in this case is the size and scope of this exposure. If its records are accurate, the Deep Root Analytics exposure contains information on more than half of the American population. It dwarfs the second-largest exposure of voter information — 93.4 million records of Mexican citizens — by more than 100 million voters and tops the largest data breach of voter information — 55 million records of Philippine voters — by more than 140 million. .................

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. LIHOP for the Russians to scoop it up. Collusion probable. . . . . nt

[Tactical Peek]

14. There it is.

A den of traitors, the RNC.

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. K & R

[KPN]

11. K & R

This needs lots of recs!

My, my Vladimir, look what we left for you here.

[Mr.Bill]

12. While exposures like this could make it simpler for the information to be abused,

isn't voter registration info all public record anyway? Your name, address and whether or not you voted is publicly displayed at polling places where I live.

And remember, information on who you voted for does not exist.

[cvoogt]

16. more than just voter registration data

'modeled data about a voter's likely positions on 46 different issues ranging from "how likely it is the individual voted for Obama in 2012, whether they agree with the Trump foreign policy of 'America First' and how likely they are to be concerned with auto manufacturing as an issue, among others."'

it's fine-grained data modeling about individual's stances on various issues.. not mere voter registration data

[pnwmom]

17. This is far more than just voter registration information.

They don't specify the source, but it probably also includes info they stole from social media.

"The accessible files, according to UpGuard, contain a main 198 million-entry database with names, addresses of voters and an "RNC ID" that can be used with other exposed files to research individuals.

"For example, a 50-gigabyte file of "Post Elect 2016" information, last updated in mid-January, contained modeled data about a voter's likely positions on 46 different issues ranging from "how likely it is the individual voted for Obama in 2012, whether they agree with the Trump foreign policy of 'America First' and how likely they are to be concerned with auto manufacturing as an issue, among others."

"That file appears in a folder titled "target_point," an apparent reference to another firm contracted by the RNC to crunch data. UpGuard speculates that the folder may imply that the firm TargetPoint compiled and shared the data with Deep Root. Another folder appears to reference Data Trust, another contracted firm.

"UpGuard analyst Dan O'Sullivan looked himself up in the database and writes in the official report that the calculated preferences were, at least for him, right on the money. "

[Mr.Bill]

19. Well they don't live inside my head,

so the only such information they could have about me would be presumptive, such as how I would vote on a given issue based on my political party, or gleaned from petitions I have signed (also public record) or what I have attached my name to on the internet.

The way In understand it, someone has taken public information, gleaned a lot of things from it, and made their findings available. Sounds to me like they have damaged themselves by giving their work away and not really damaged me anymore than I have damaged myself by putting things about myself in the public record.

[pnwmom]

23. No. This isn't just about you.

You apparently aren't on Facebook. But people who had private settings -- not public -- on Facebook had their info stolen and used in the election to target them.

Even if Person A set their settings to "friends only" and never took a survey, if one of their FRIENDS took a survey, then Person A's data was available to be taken.

https://theintercept.com/2017/03/30/facebook-failed-to-protect-30-million-users-from-having-their-data-harvested-by-trump-campaign-affiliate/

The Intercept interviewed five individuals familiar with Kogan’s work for SCL. All declined to be identified, citing concerns about an ongoing inquiry at Cambridge and fears of possible litigation. Two sources familiar with the SCL project told The Intercept that Kogan had arranged for more than 100,000 people to complete the Facebook survey and download an app. A third source with direct knowledge of the project said that Global Science Research obtained data from 185,000 survey participants as well as their Facebook friends. The source said that this group of 185,000 was recruited through a data company, not Mechanical Turk, and that it yielded 30 million usable profiles. No one in this larger group of 30 million knew that “likes” and demographic data from their Facebook profiles were being harvested by political operatives hired to influence American voters.

Kogan declined to comment. In late 2014, he gave a talk in Singapore in which he claimed to have “a sample of 50+ million individuals about whom we have the capacity to predict virtually any trait.” Global Science Research’s public filings for 2015 show the company holding 145,111 British pounds in its bank account. Kogan has since changed his name to Spectre. Writing online, he has said that he changed his name to Spectre after getting married. “My wife and I are both scientists and quite religious, and light is a strong symbol of both,” he explained.

The purpose of Kogan’s work was to develop an algorithm for the “national profiling capacity of American citizens” as part of SCL’s work on U.S. elections, according to an internal document signed by an SCL employee describing the research.

[Mr.Bill]

24. One of many reasons I'm not on Facebook.

I consider everything I post on the internet to potentially be made public. Anyone should proceed with the same caution.

Data mining happens not only for political purposes, but for commercial purposes also. I have a good friend that owned a company in Silicon Valley that was somewhat of a pioneer in this area in the 80s. He utilized mainly census data. He was selling the data to companies who used it for location planning. He sold the company for millions of dollars a few years after he founded it. This has been a big business for a long time, long before the internet.

Casinos know how little and how I gamble because I have a club card there to get discounts. Safeway knows what brand and size of every product I buy there. Again, because I have a club card that gives me discounts. It's just market research and targeting certain customers with certain discounts on products.

It should be no surprise to anyone that political parties are doing the same thing. They would be idiots if they didn't.

[pnwmom]

26. Then you are saying that 198 million Americans are idiots

because that's how many had their personal information -- not just voter registration information -- collected and used for political purposes.

[Mr.Bill]

29. Don't put words in my mouth.

The only ones I called idiots were political parties who were not doing any data mining.

[pnwmom]

30. You are victim blaming when you say that people should have known

that their posts wouldn't remain private and could be used this way.

[Mr.Bill]

31. That's not calling anyone an idiot.

That's stating a fact about the real world of internet privacy.

[pnwmom]

34. Even Facebook has acknowledged that their settings helped cause the problem.

People's data shouldn't be at risk because a FRIEND chose to take an online survey.

[Mr.Bill]

35. I agree that Facebook is a big part of the problem. n/t

[Amaryllis]

13. What a coincidence.

[not fooled]

18. Whether deliberate or accidental

pukes--what a party of maroons.

[yurbud]

20. ...and they will be punished in no way whatsoever.

Unless they say Russia made them do it.

[Calista241]

22. Unless that hacked into your financial, private social media accounts

Or other non public information, they didn't do anything illegal. Leaving their own intellectual property exposed in the cloud makes them incompetent, not criminals.

And $10 says the Dems have operations every bit as comprehensive and morally objectionable as this is.

The Obama campaigns were widely known and praised for their data collection, modeling and management operations. What did you think they were talking about when people said the word modeling?

[Mr.Bill]

25. Well stated.

I agree.

[pnwmom]

27. They did hack into private social media accounts.

They used surveys to get into Facebook, and when they did, the FRIENDS of people who took the surveys had their data also exposed.


https://theintercept.com/2017/03/30/facebook-failed-to-protect-30-million-users-from-having-their-data-harvested-by-trump-campaign-affiliate/

The Intercept interviewed five individuals familiar with Kogan’s work for SCL. All declined to be identified, citing concerns about an ongoing inquiry at Cambridge and fears of possible litigation. Two sources familiar with the SCL project told The Intercept that Kogan had arranged for more than 100,000 people to complete the Facebook survey and download an app. A third source with direct knowledge of the project said that Global Science Research obtained data from 185,000 survey participants as well as their Facebook friends. The source said that this group of 185,000 was recruited through a data company, not Mechanical Turk, and that it yielded 30 million usable profiles. No one in this larger group of 30 million knew that “likes” and demographic data from their Facebook profiles were being harvested by political operatives hired to influence American voters.

Kogan declined to comment. In late 2014, he gave a talk in Singapore in which he claimed to have “a sample of 50+ million individuals about whom we have the capacity to predict virtually any trait.” Global Science Research’s public filings for 2015 show the company holding 145,111 British pounds in its bank account. Kogan has since changed his name to Spectre. Writing online, he has said that he changed his name to Spectre after getting married. “My wife and I are both scientists and quite religious, and light is a strong symbol of both,” he explained.

The purpose of Kogan’s work was to develop an algorithm for the “national profiling capacity of American citizens” as part of SCL’s work on U.S. elections, according to an internal document signed by an SCL employee describing the research.

[Mr.Bill]

32. That article points more to Facebook's lack of protection for it's users

than it does to illegal hacking.

[pnwmom]

33. What would be illegal is if they turned over the private data of Americans

to Russia to use in its propaganda campaign against Hillary, in exchange for some goods or services.

[pnwmom]

28. Where is your evidence that the Democrats accessed PRIVATE information

in Facebook and used it to target voters?

SCL and Cambridge Analytica did this for the GOP.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/the-secret-agenda-of-a-facebook-quiz.html?mcubz=2

For several years, a data firm eventually hired by the Trump campaign, Cambridge Analytica, has been using Facebook as a tool to build psychological profiles that represent some 230 million adult Americans. A spinoff of a British consulting company and sometime-defense contractor known for its counterterrorism “psy ops” work in Afghanistan, the firm does so by seeding the social network with personality quizzes. Respondents — by now hundreds of thousands of us, mostly female and mostly young but enough male and older for the firm to make inferences about others with similar behaviors and demographics — get a free look at their Ocean scores. Cambridge Analytica also gets a look at their scores and, thanks to Facebook, gains access to their profiles and real names.

Cambridge Analytica worked on the “Leave” side of the Brexit campaign. In the United States it takes only Republicans as clients: Senator Ted Cruz in the primaries, Mr. Trump in the general election. Cambridge is reportedly backed by Robert Mercer, a hedge fund billionaire and a major Republican donor; a key board member is Stephen K. Bannon, the head of Breitbart News who became Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman and is set to be his chief strategist in the White House.


https://theintercept.com/2017/03/30/facebook-failed-to-protect-30-million-users-from-having-their-data-harvested-by-trump-campaign-affiliate/

The Intercept interviewed five individuals familiar with Kogan’s work for SCL. All declined to be identified, citing concerns about an ongoing inquiry at Cambridge and fears of possible litigation. Two sources familiar with the SCL project told The Intercept that Kogan had arranged for more than 100,000 people to complete the Facebook survey and download an app. A third source with direct knowledge of the project said that Global Science Research obtained data from 185,000 survey participants as well as their Facebook friends. The source said that this group of 185,000 was recruited through a data company, not Mechanical Turk, and that it yielded 30 million usable profiles. No one in this larger group of 30 million knew that “likes” and demographic data from their Facebook profiles were being harvested by political operatives hired to influence American voters.

Kogan declined to comment. In late 2014, he gave a talk in Singapore in which he claimed to have “a sample of 50+ million individuals about whom we have the capacity to predict virtually any trait.” Global Science Research’s public filings for 2015 show the company holding 145,111 British pounds in its bank account. Kogan has since changed his name to Spectre. Writing online, he has said that he changed his name to Spectre after getting married. “My wife and I are both scientists and quite religious, and light is a strong symbol of both,” he explained.

The purpose of Kogan’s work was to develop an algorithm for the “national profiling capacity of American citizens” as part of SCL’s work on U.S. elections, according to an internal document signed by an SCL employee describing the research.

[suffragette]

21. No doubt that big arrows were given separately to help "anyone who knew where to look"

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

36. Doing Russia's work for them