A bug in Joe Biden’s campaign app gave anyone access to millions of voter files

A bug in Joe Biden’s campaign app gave anyone access to millions of...

https://t.co/hjiQA7cF5O?amp=1

Zack Whittaker@zackwhittaker / 7:10 pm GMTSeptember 14, 2020
SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA – SEPTEMBER 11: A political poster favoring U.S. presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris is placed on a front lawn September 11, 2020 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
A privacy bug in Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s i official campaign app allowed anyone to look up sensitive voter information on millions of Americans, a security researcher has found.
The campaign app, Vote Joe, allows Biden supporters to encourage friends and family members to vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential election by uploading their phone’s contact lists to see if their friends and family members are registered to vote. The app uploads and matches the user’s contacts with voter data supplied from TargetSmart, a political marketing firm that claims to have files on more than 191 million Americans.
When a match is found, the app displays the voter’s name, age and birthday, and which recent election they voted in. This, the app says, helps users “find people you know and encourage them to get involved.”
While much of this data can already be public, the bug made it easy for anyone to access any voter’s information by using the app.
The App Analyst, a mobile expert who detailed his findings on his eponymous blog, found that he could trick the app into pulling in anyone’s information by creating a contact on his phone with the voter’s name.
Worse, he told TechCrunch, the app pulls in a lot more data than it actually displays. By intercepting the data that flows in and out of the device, he saw far more detailed and private information, including the voter’s home address, date of birth, gender, ethnicity and political party affiliation, such as Republican or Democrat.
The Biden campaign fixed the bug and pushed out an app update on Friday.
screenshot of Joe Biden's official iPhone app.
A screenshot of Joe Biden’s official campaign app, which uploads and matches a user’s contacts with their existing voter file. But a bug allowed anyone to pull in any voter’s information. (Image: TechCrunch)
“We were made aware about how our third-party app developer was providing additional fields of information from commercially available data that was not needed,” Matt Hill, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, told TechCrunch. “We worked with our vendor quickly to fix the issue and remove the information. We are committed to protecting the privacy of our staff, volunteers and supporters will always work with our vendors to do so.”
A spokesperson for TargetSmart said a “limited amount of publicly or commercially available data” was accessible to other users.
It’s not uncommon for political campaigns to trade and share large amounts of voter information, called voter files, which includes basic information like a voter’s name, often their home address and contact information and which political parties they are registered with. Voter files can differ wildly state to state.
Though a lot of this data can be publicly available, political firms also try to enrich their databases with additional data from other sources to help political campaigns identify and target key swing voters.
But several security lapses involving these vast banks of data have questioned whether political firms can keep this data safe.
It’s not the first time TargetSmart has been embroiled in a data leak. In 2017, a voter file compiled by TargetSmart on close to 600,000 voters in Alaska was left on an exposed server without a password. And in 2018, TechCrunch reported that close to 15 million records on Texas voters were found on an exposed and unsecured server, just months ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
Last week Microsoft warned that hackers backed by Russia, China and Iran are targeting both the 2020 presidential campaigns but also their political advisors. Reuters reported that one of those firms, Washington, DC-based SKDKnickerbocker, a political consultant to the Biden campaign, was targeted by Russian intelligence but that there was “no breach.”

Views: 38

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Sandy posted a video

Civalyze meme

meme ad for a fake drug that would do away with black fatiguecivilyze you're not racist your just exhausted
2 hours ago
Burbia posted a blog post

Is the Timing of Alex Jones and Charlie Sheen Connected?

Alex Jones is sperging out.Charlie Sheen is coming out of the closet.Is this why Alex Jones is…See More
yesterday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Buying the Last haunted House on the Left (A partial autobiography)

Note to the reader, there are events here that are true and some that are fictional.Chapter IIt was…See More
Friday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

In Memory of Those Who Served

 Bullets flew and ricochetedI was on that hill todayMy Company commander got blown awayI was on…See More
Thursday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Tuesday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"cheeki kea I was wrong Emperor Penguins are big and powerful but still alive but this,  A size…"
Tuesday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"Cheeki kea here's another that they say there have been modern sightings of!  The name of…"
Tuesday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"cheeki kea, did you ever hear of the giant Imperial Penguins? They were about 6 feet tall and could…"
Tuesday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"cheeki kea I do not think these giant two legged birds would need to have a bad attitude as long as…"
Tuesday
Olivia Brooks updated their profile
Tuesday
John Miller was featured
Sep 2
tjdavis's 2 blog posts were featured
Sep 2
Zfort Group's blog post was featured
Sep 2
Doc Vega's 6 blog posts were featured
Sep 2
Burbia commented on tjdavis's video
Thumbnail

“What’s His Motive?” - Inside The Mind of George Soros

"Trump calls for George Soros and son to face federal…"
Sep 1
Burbia commented on tjdavis's photo
Sep 1
Profile IconSeeta Sathe and Olivia Brooks joined 12160 Social Network
Sep 1
tjdavis posted a video

Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit | John Kiriakou

John Kiriakou served 15 years in the CIA as a Case Officer (Spy) and as CIA's Head of Counterterrorism Operations in Pakistan where he lead the raid that cap...
Sep 1
tjdavis posted a photo
Sep 1
tjdavis posted a video

A Critique of the Tavistock Institute - The Mother Of All Conspiracy Theories

An examination of the Tavistock Institute, a theory which seeks to explain how Western societies have been brainwashed by a cabal of social scientists and th...
Aug 31

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted