[kictanet] Poor show by IEBC: Data Protection in year 2017 and the case of raw voter registration data

Ali Hussein ali at hussein.me.ke
Fri Jun 30 06:19:10 EAT 2017


Do we have someone from IEBC on this list? 

This is a serious breach. In the dark web there are vendors of stolen identities. What IEBC has done is to basically leave the bank vaults open and invite every identity theft vendor in the world into this treasure trove..

This whole verification exercise needs to be suspended until this rookie mistake is rectified. 

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113 

Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

> On 30 Jun 2017, at 1:05 AM, Grace Githaiga via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
> 
> @Chebukati
> 
> I like the idea of a legitimate implementable solution. And I believe we have many of those here--on this list. So Listers, take up Chebukati's challenge and suggest what is pragmatic and would probably help the techies at IEBC  move this process forward with less glitches. 
> 
> 
> 
> Best regards
> 
> 
> Githaiga, Grace
> 
> 
> 
> On Friday, 30-06-2017 at 01:29 Emmanuel Chebukati via kictanet wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> Thinking out loud here: what are the alternatives to an open system? In my view: Limiting requests per IP address would obviously lock out many users. Implementing cookies et al to limit to one query per day would also lock out several legitimate users (e.g. those who share PCs at cybers). Introducing a username/password combo made out of perhaps the birth-date would complicate matters for the average voter.
> 
> I think the only legitimate options they have to prevent abuse/mass mining of this information is to implement a service like Cloudflare on the subdomain. This would at least stop a repetitive CURL request in its tracks or at least severely slow it down. Nevertheless, a quick IP ping shows that it appears as though the subdomain voterstatus.iebc.or.ke is running on Google Cloud servers which offer similar services as Cloudflare these days. I trust the good people at IEBC have explored these services.
> 
> Let's brainstorm. Perhaps a legitimate, implementable solution may arise from this discussion that works for the "Kenyan context".
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> EC
> 
>> On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 11:55 PM, Ronald Ojino via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>> This is a very serious anomaly that must be addressed soonest possible. It begs the question, are we safe as data subjects? If a body like IEBC that is expected to be beyond reproach can have such open flaws...then we say that we are ready to go for elections huh?its a disappointment.
>> 
>>> On 29-Jun-2017 11:47 PM, "Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>> Dear Listers,
>>> 
>>> Today I'm wearing my CISA hat.
>>> 
>>> IEBC has launched a voter verification tool both through sms, and web query at http://voterstatus.iebc.or.ke/voter
>>> 
>>> If you are privacy conscious, and a little bit paranoid, you will realize that IEBC is doing badly with how they are exposing  raw data of nearly 20 million Kenyans to the world. Anybody with basic programing skills can be able to harvest the raw data through an automated search. If you search any random number with the format of Kenya ID numbers, say hypothetically 12345678, you will realize you can pull up citizen's details, at least ID number, and name, and where they live.
>>> 
>>> Basic security tips would require the system to have a captcha to prevent automated harvest of the information, and also have a challenge questions like date of birth to supplement the ID number, therefore thwart any mischievous individuals from harvesting the rich data
>>> 
>>> Can IEBC correct the anomaly?
>>> 
>>> Attached is a sample demo screenshot. Of course there is the other thing of strange ID numbers finding their way into the voter register.
>>> 
>>> Voter Details for Id: 12345678
>>> Id / Passport Number	12345678
>>> Primary Name	KIBET
>>> Secondary Name	KIRUI
>>> Birth Date	01/01/1994
>>> Gender	M
>>> Polling Station Code	101
>>> Polling Station	LELACH PRIMARY SCHOOL
>>> County	KERICHO
>>> Contituency	BURETI
>>> Ward	CHEPLANGET
>>> 
>>> ______________________
>>> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>>> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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> 
> 
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