Regulator refutes report that voter lists were hacked

Quebec’s director general of elections is denying a news report that says confidential information contained in the provincial voter list was hacked during a computer security breach at the beginning of the provincial election campaign. In a statement issued on Friday, the provincial elections office said it refutes a Journal de Montréal report that said the chief electoral officer’s computer system was the target of an attack on Aug. 24, and that the evidence of it was erased without informing the police. “At no time was our computer network hacked,” said the statement, in French. It added “the information contained in the electoral list was protected during the election period.” However, Quebec’s director general of elections, Pierre Reid, acknowledged “an incident” occurred on Aug. 24. But “serious and rigorous” examination showed that the “attempted attack” on the network was limited to one computer and that the computer system wasn’t compromised, the statement said. A person posing as a computer technician managed to convince an employee of a returning officer to provide remote access to the employee’s computer under the pretence that the fake technician wanted to protect the computer from a virus. When the impostor asked to be paid for the services, the employee realized that it was an attempt at phishing, the statement said. The fake technician’s takeover of the computer ended there, according to Reid. The computer contained spreadsheets that weren’t connected to the Director General of Elections’ systems and that contained information concerning 50 people. Some personal information, including curriculum vitae and addresses, of two of the 50 were in the spreadsheets. The two people, who worked for the elections office, were advised of the incident, Reid added. The statement says the director general of elections has asked its units to review procedures to avoid any similar incident in the future.