Russian hackers leak personal data of nearly every voter in Michigan

[yaxomoxay]

It's the scale that is the concerning. Also, can you tell me about your requests? It sounds like a cool idea.

Government entities are mandated to provide info on yourself (exceptions are open investigations), without any retaliation or any red flag of any kind. There are several pre-filled forms that you can find online, and some agencies allow for FOIA online. Just fill the forms.

Here's the FBI one, 100% free and it takes two minutes: https://efoia.fbi.gov/#home
They will send you a letter with the info.

Of course you can even request FOIA docs about other people (99% dead people) without any reason for it. I did it on a couple of persons.

 

[User.45]

But hacking or not it doesn't matter. Matched with personal emails, that data is good enough to target via FaceBook.

THe weird thing in 2016 was that I saw the fake news dump on FB unravel in front of my eyes. I also had a non-american "friend" who shared all this crap like crazy. 5 a day. All about Clinton being a ruthless child molesting mass murderer.

 

[lizkat]

Yeah so this bit's a matter of quasi-legal mischief underlying plans to troll Michigan like crazy? Doesn't really matter if it's Russian plans though? There I'd hope at least Facebook still thinks that would matter.

 

[Lostngone]

Also, technically, FOIA requests should not be used to "raise red flags", which could be seen as retailation. This is why every year I submit FOIA's on myself to all the gov't agencies.

Maybe not on state level but on the federal level if you file a FOIA request for files/information on something that secret and isn’t public knowledge you WILL be investigated.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Maybe not on state level but on the federal level if you file a FOIA request for files/information on something that secret and isn’t public knowledge you WILL be investigated.

Ok good point. But public info (I.e voter rolls) are certainly not part of that.

 

[Renzatic]

This kind of response is exactly what I'd expect from an entire generation of people who grew up without phonebooks.

 

[User.45]

This kind of response is exactly what I'd expect from an entire generation of people who grew up without phonebooks.

"For each American voter in the database, the following information is available: full name, date of birth, sex, date of registration, home address, zip code, email address, voter ID number, and polling station number."
I grew up with phone books. They didn't contain this much information, and you couldn't bulk search or mine them.

The reason I don't care about hacking is that social engineering works too. If you have the polling station's location, and home address, and the email address, you can pair these data with pre-existing facebook profiles (see Cambridge Analytica), and you can come up with a strategy of dropping a misinformation payload to the people most likely to respond to it in the most vulnerable precincts. Efficiency is huge here. Looking back at how Trump won in 2016, was clear to me from day 1 what happened, and the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Mueller report independently corroborated my suspicion.

 

[lizkat]

"For each American voter in the database, the following information is available: full name, date of birth, sex, date of registration, home address, zip code, email address, voter ID number, and polling station number."
I grew up with phone books. They didn't contain this much information, and you couldn't bulk search or mine them.

The reason I don't care about hacking is that social engineering works too. If you have the polling station's location, and home address, and the email address, you can pair these data with pre-existing facebook profiles (see Cambridge Analytica), and you can come up with a strategy of dropping a misinformation payload to the people most likely to respond to it in the most vulnerable precincts. Efficiency is huge here. Looking back at how Trump won in 2016, was clear to me from day 1 what happened, and the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Mueller report independently corroborated my suspicion.

Well Trump's crew and any hired or gratis help are fixin' to do it again. What's maybe different is the social media platforms are not completely asleep at the switch. And a raft of voters who didn't like Trump or his administration's accomplishments by the time the 2018 midterm elections rolled around don't have much reason to swing back again in the meantime... so far.

Turnout will be important and so will ensuring that returned ballots get counted.

 

[User.45]

Well Trump's crew and any hired or gratis help are fixin' to do it again. What's maybe different is the social media platforms are not completely asleep at the switch. And a raft of voters who didn't like Trump or his administration's accomplishments by the time the 2018 midterm elections rolled around don't have much reason to swing back again in the meantime... so far.

Turnout will be important and so will ensuring that returned ballots get counted.

It's definitely a significant uphill battle:

PENNSYLVANIA:

ARIZONA:

FLORIDA

MICHIGAN:

WISCONSIN:

He broke the polls in Michigan, Florida, and Pennsylvania, Wisconsin

 

[User.45]

I think there is certainly an inertia for an incumbent president that makes people harder to sway in a matter of days, but I expect a similar timing of payload delivery very late October.

The general polls don't even matter, which makes it easier to surgically target states. FL, NC, Arizona are especially good targets, given their red history and the receptiveness in the past.

 

[lizkat]

I'm having fun with the NYT's interactive parlor game version of electoral maps based on ratings of Cook's Political Report. You get to build your own coalitions of leaning-blue, tossup and leaning-red battleground states to add to the presumed red or blue states and see the outcomes... plus look at a few prepared scenarios. Piece shows Cook's ratings for all 50 states and a blurb about the demographics of those deemed in play.

The Battleground States Biden and Trump Need to Win 270 (Published 2020)

In this interactive diagram, try building your own coalition of states to see potential outcomes of the presidential race.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Riyan17]

The recent breach revealing personal information of Michigan voters by Russian hackers is deeply concerning. Such attacks on electoral systems undermine trust in democratic processes and jeopardize individuals' privacy. It's imperative for authorities to bolster cybersecurity measures to safeguard sensitive data and prevent future breaches. This incident underscores the critical need for robust defense strategies against cyber threats targeting electoral infrastructure.