A critical flaw in a voting app used by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has exposed personal data of 6.5 million voters in Israel. The leaked data included the voters’ full names, addresses, identity card numbers, and phone numbers – raising concerns about electoral manipulation and identity theft.
The app was used to communicate with voters and it allowed their personals to be viewed/downloaded without the need for any technical skills. The source code with access to the app’s database was available on the website. The source code even included the personal data of administrators in charge of the app’s database.
Although Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority has not commenced a full-fledged investigation on the matter, they did claim that its being looked into. The cause of the breach, however, still remains uncertain.
A petition has now been filed against the Prime Minister’s Likud party after a programmer disclosed:
One of the largest and most compromising leaks of Israelis’ personal information in the nation’s history.
The party is being accused of violating privacy laws for creating and sharing their database with access to all of the government’s voting registry.
The flaw in the app has since been fixed but it goes to show how electoral apps aren’t being tested thoroughly and aren’t ready to carry sensitive information.
