Probe Launched into Alleged Massive Leak of Israeli Voter Data by Likud Party

The Israeli Justice Ministry’s Privacy Protection Authority has launched a probe into an alleged leak by the ruling Likud party of the country’s entire voter registry, in what security experts are describing as the Jewish state’s most compromising data breach ever. The development came to light after a court petition accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s party of creating a database containing the private details of some 6.5 million Israelis of voting age. The database was uploaded onto a public app, called Elector, and freely shared with an unknown number of Likud activists. While Israeli political parties are permitted to cull information from the Central Elections Committee voter registry, they are prevented by law from transmitting the data to third parties. According to Israeli media, a flaw in the app provided “admin access” to the entire Likud database – and thus to the personal details of every registered voter – thereby allowing anyone aware of the glitch to download the information.