Hillsborough election hack exposed 58,000 voters’ private information

A data breach at the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office exposed private information belonging to 58,000 voters.

An unauthorized user appears to have illegally accessed and copied files containing personal identification information — including Social Security and driver’s license numbers — primarily from files used to conduct voter registration list maintenance, Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer said in a statement released Wednesday.

The voter registration list maintenance is mandated by the state. The process requires the elections office personnel to continually review its voter roll to identify necessary updates. The office’s voter registration system and the ballot tabulation system, which have additional layers of security, were not accessed.

This illegal data breach affected approximately 58,000 people, the statement said. They will be sent notification letters this week advising them that their information has been illegally accessed.

The office announced on May 3 it was working with federal, state and local law enforcement officials to investigate criminal cyberactivity. That criminal investigation is continuing, and the elections office said no further details will be made public at this time.