Ontario voter data breach may involve 25 ridings

Ontario's chief electoral officer has said the personal information of voters in as many as 25 ridings in the province has been compromised.

Greg Essensa said at a Tuesday morning news conference that Elections Ontario can't account for two unencrypted memory sticks containing information about people who voted in last fall's provincial election. Two Elections Ontario staff members did not follow standard protocol when it came to handling that information, Essensa said.

Typically, such information on memory sticks has to be password protected and encrypted.

However, Elections Ontario doesn't believe voter information has been accessed, he said.
Warning applies to 49 ridings

The breach occurred as Elections Ontario was working on voter information for 49 of Ontario's107 ridings. Work on 20-25 of the ridings was completed, but staff can't identify exactly which ridings were affected.

So Elections Ontario is telling Ontarians in those 49 ridings that their personal information has been compromised.

The information on the missing memory sticks includes the full name, address, gender and birth date of voters and may also include information on whether or not these same individuals voted. The sticks didn't contain social insurance numbers, health card or driver's licence information, telephone numbers, banking information or email addresses, he said.

Essensa apologized to Ontarians for any concern that the breach may have caused, and said he accepts full responsibility.

The privacy breach is now under investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police and Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner.

Essensa informed Ontario's three party leaders about the matter on Monday.

Essensa insists the breach did not in any way affect the outcome of last fall's election.
Election privacy breach

Elections Ontario says the privacy of voters in up to 25 of 49 ridings may be compromised as a result of a lost memory stick that wasn't encrypted. Elections Ontario doesn't know which of the 49 ridings were included on the misplaced USB device so it is notifying voters in the following 49 ridings.

    Essex
    Etobicoke Centre
    Kingston and the Islands
    Newmarket—Aurora
    Nipissing
    Ottawa West—Nepean
    Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry
    Whitby—Oshawa
    Ajax—Pickering
    Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound
    Windsor West
    York Centre
    York West
    Burlington
    Davenport
    Don Valley East
    Don Valley West
    Algoma—Manitoulin
    Etobicoke—Lakeshore
    Etobicoke North
    Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock
    Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale
    Halton
    Hamilton Centre
    Kitchener Centre
    Kitchener—Conestoga
    London—Fanshawe
    London North Centre
    London West
    Mississauga South
    Mississauga—Streetsville
    Nepean—Carleton
    Nickel Belt
    Northumberland—Quinte West
    Ottawa South
    Ottawa—Vanier
    Peterborough
    Pickering—Scarborough East
    Prince Edward—Hastings
    Sarnia—Lambton
    Sault Ste. Marie
    Brampton West
    Scarborough—Agincourt
    Simcoe—Grey
    Simcoe North
    Brant
    Timiskaming—Cochrane
    Timmins—James Bay
    Toronto Centre

Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: cbc