Israeli voting app exposes details of entire electorate

A security error in a mobile app has made it possible for anyone to download the personal information for almost 6.5 million eligible voters in Israel, weeks before the country’s national election, reported Haaretz. 

The app, called Elector, was used by the party to communicate with voters. Every party receives a copy of the voter registry ahead of elections, and Likud—the party of Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu—uploaded it to the app. They’re not allowed to pass it on to third parties, and are obligated to project privacy. 

Owing to a security flaw in an app, information including names, addresses and identity card numbers were publicly available for anyone to download.

The security lapse comes a week after a flaw in a mobile app, used by the United States’ Democratic Party in the Iowa Caucus, showed inconsistencies.

Detractors of centralized systems might point out that storing voter data in this way is prone to human error and mismanagement. 

Encrypting voter data on a blockchain, as has been trialed by Voatz in West Virginia, Denver, and Utah County, could make it voting systems more secure...theoretically.