Federal Police arrest suspect for TSE data leak

The Brazilian Federal Police (PF), in partnership with the Portuguese Judicial Police, arrested, on Saturday (28), in Portugal, a suspect by leakage of data from servers and employees of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) during the first round (11/15) of this year’s municipal elections.

According to Agência Brasil, the attack and data leak was organized by one of a group of cybercriminals, with members in Brazil, but led by a member from Portugal. The PF operation was called Exploit, in honor of the software, script or commands developed by cybercriminals to carry out attacks.

The Federal Police informs that they are being fulfilled search and seizure warrants at the residence of three investigated in the state of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. In addition, three precautionary measures were also established, which prohibit the contact of the investigated between them.

Leaked data is not old

During a press conference broadcast during the election Sunday (15), the minister and president of the TSE, Luís Roberto Barroso confirmed data leaks from TSE servers, but said it would be old data, up to 2010.

However, according to G1, the PF investigation (inquiry opened on Monday, just after Sunday of election) identified that in addition to old data, up-to-date data such as addresses and phone numbers of the servers and court officials from 2020 were also accessed.

The investigation investigates “crimes of invasion of a computer device and criminal association”, infractions foreseen in the penal code, as well as infractions foreseen in the electoral code and in the election law.

In a press release, the PF informs that no elements were identified that could have damaged or altered the election results. But it is important to remember that in addition to data leakage, the TSE suffered a DDoS attack which interrupted the operation of the e-Título app, which shows the location of voters’ votes and was also used to justify the lack of voting.

Sources: Agency Brazil and G1.