A data breach at the Hillsborough County Elections Office exposed the private information of 58,000 voters.
An unauthorized user appears to have illegally accessed and copied files containing personally identifiable information, including Social Security and driver’s license numbers, primarily from files used to perform registry maintenance of voters, Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer said in a statement released Wednesday.
The maintenance of voter registration lists is mandated by the state. The process requires election office staff to continually review their voter roll to identify necessary updates. The office’s voter registration system and ballot tabulation system, which have additional layers of security, were not accessed.
This illegal data breach affected approximately 58,000 people, according to the statement. Notification letters will be sent to them this week informing them that their information has been illegally accessed.
The bureau announced on May 3 that it was working with federal, state and local law enforcement officials to investigate criminal cyber activity. That criminal investigation is ongoing, and the election office said no further details will be released at this time.
