On Tuesday, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced that Eugene Yu, Konnech’s CEO, had been arrested in Michigan “as part of an investigation into the possible theft of personal identifying information of [LA County election] workers” and that the “information was stored on servers in the People’s Republic of China.”
Of course, Gascón asserts that “the alleged conduct had no impact on the tabulation of votes and did not alter election results,” but hard drives were seized by LA District Attorneys office investigators.
Prosecutors learned of the data breach earlier this year through a “separate investigation,” according to Gascón. He would not say what the other investigation was or exactly when his office became aware of the breach.
As Gascón’s press release describes:
Konnech distributes and sells its proprietary PollChief software, which is an election worker management system that was utilized by the county in the last California election. The software assists with poll worker assignments, communications and payroll. PollChief requires that workers submit personal identifying information, which is retained by the [sic] Konnech.
Under its $2.9 million, five-year contract with the county, Konnech was supposed to securely maintain the data and that only United States citizens and permanent residents have access to it. District Attorney investigators found that in contradiction to the contract, information was stored on servers in the People’s Republic of China.