Aug. 8 (UPI) — The British Electoral Commission says it has uncovered a cyberattack that breached sensitive voter information and internal data.

“During the cyberattack, the perpetrators had access to the commission’s servers, which held our email, our control systems and copies of the electoral registers,” the commission said in a statement Tuesday.

According to authorities, the attack started in 2021 and was identified in October.

“The incident was identified in October 2022 after suspicious activity was detected on our systems. It became clear that hostile actors had first accessed the systems in August 2021,” the commission said.

Some data related to donations was accessed, commission officials said.

“They were able to access reference copies of the electoral registers, held by the commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations,” officials said.

Internal systems, including its email, were accessed during the breach.

“The registers held at the time of the cyberattack include the name and address of anyone in the UK who registered to vote between 20114 and 2022, as well as the names of those registered overseas voters. The registers did not include the details of those registered anonymously. The commission’s email system was also accessible during the attack,” the Electoral Commission said.

Officials said the attack will not disrupt the electoral process but warned that “anyone who has been in contact with the commission, or who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, should remain vigilant for unauthorized use or release of their personal data.”