This archive report was first published on 19 July 2021.
July 19, 2021 - In a recent report, the DCI accused a suspect of hacking into the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) database and acquiring personal details of 61,617 registered voters from a county in western Kenya.
According to the DCI, the suspect used the fraudulently acquired personal details to contact wireless carriers and convince customer service agents that they were the true owners of the line, resulting in successful SIM swapping and access to the victims' online accounts.
However, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has come out to clarify that the information is not factual. He explained that the Commission's register of voters is kept in a Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system, which is hosted on several servers and has its own isolated network, set of servers, and user account directory to ensure integrity, confidentiality, and high availability.
Chebukati added that the details acquired by the suspects may have been accessed through proper channels, as the BVR system has never been hacked since its installation and commissioning 8 years ago. He also stated that the Commission's internal network is a high-security firewall system.
The IEBC Chairman emphasized that the Commission is bound by the Constitution to provide certain voter details when required, and that these requests are serviced upon payment of certain fees and in accordance with privacy laws.
Chebukati assured all Kenyans that the Commission invests highly in the security of its information assets, including electoral technologies, and is committed to protecting them by ensuring their confidentiality, integrity, and availability at all times.
