CEO of software firm Konnech, Eugene Yu, has been arrested in relation to the storage of data servers in China.
The LA Times reported that “Yu, 51, was arrested early Tuesday just outside of Lansing, Mich., after prosecutors alleged he improperly stored the information on servers in China, according to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón. Yu, who is the chief executive officer of a company named Konnech, is expected to be extradited to Los Angeles in the coming days, Gascón said.”
Gascón revealed that “Konnech allegedly violated its contract by storing critical information that the workers provided on servers in China. We intend to hold all those responsible for this breach accountable.”
LA Times also stated “Prosecutors learned of the data breach this year through a ‘separate investigation’ undertaken by the district attorney’s office, according to Gascón. He would not say what the other investigation was or exactly when his office became aware of the breach.”
In reaction to the arrest, the software firm issued a public statement that read: “We are continuing to ascertain the details of what we believe to be Mr. Yu’s wrongful detention by LA County authorities. Any LA County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided to it by LA County, and therefore could not have been ‘stolen’ as suggested.”
Just earlier this week The New York Times had published an article that claimed “election deniers” had placed Konnech at the center of a “conspiracy theory” through the use of “threadbare evidence.” They suggested that the firm “had secret ties to the Chinese Communist Party and had given the Chinese government back door access to personal data about two million poll workers in the United States.”
According to The Times, the allegations against the firm “demonstrate how far-right election deniers are also giving more attention to new and more secondary companies and groups.”
At the time, Konnech had denied the accusations and assured that “all the data for its American customers were stored on services in the United States and that it had no ties to the Chinese government.”
On Tuesday, not-for-profit True the Vote had downloaded the personal information of over 1.8 million poll workers from the Konnech servers located in China and promptly forwarded the information to the FBI.
Konnech’s contract with the U.S. would be violated by holding data in China.
At the moment, Konnech is standing by their CEO, blaming election deniers for destroying the reputation of the company.
According to the report by The New York Times, “The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in an emailed statement that it had cause to believe that personal information on election workers was ‘criminally mishandled.'”
About time.