CHICAGO — The 1.8 million Chicago registered voters whose personal information was posted on a public server may getting a year of identity protection coverage, according to the company that manages the city's elections.
Election Systems & Software said it would give people potentially affected by the leak a year of free fraud consultation and identity theft restoration through Kroll, an identity protection business.
On Aug. 12, the company discovered backup files stored on a Amazon Web Services server that included voter names, addresses, and dates of birth. In many cases it also included the voters’ driver’s license and state ID numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
"What happened is that the equivalent of a cybersecurity cop found a server that ES&S had with the wrong setting," said Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago elections board.
The incident was reported to authorities and ES&S hired outside vendors to search the information on the Dark Web. ES&S says there is no indication that the information was "misused."
"The results of ES&S’ investigations have not uncovered any evidence that any voter’s personal information stored on the AWS server was misused," the company wrote in an email that some registered Chicago voters received.
The email said that voters affected — those who were registered to vote in the city in 2016 — had access to Kroll's services.
A voters hotline has been set up at 833-202-7412 to determine what type of coverage a person may be eligible for. It is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding holidays. ES&S recommended to check AnnualCreditReport.com to spot credit issues before calling.
