The Federal Bureau of Investigation urged US election officials to improve computer security measures after finding out that hackers have targeted two state election databases in recent weeks.
The FBI’s cyber division issued the warning in a flash alert. News reports cited unnamed law enforcement officials who claimed that foreign hackers caused the intrusions. Although the issued warning didn’t name the targeted states, some media reports refer to Arizona and Illinois, whose voter registration systems were breached. For example, Yahoo News informed that the Illinois voter registration system was shut down for more than a week in July after the intruders stole personal data on 200,000 voters. Talking about the Arizona attack, Yahoo News quoted a state official saying that it was more limited and introduced malware into the voter registration system. However, no data was removed in the attack.
Apparently, US intelligence officials have become increasingly worried that hackers sponsored by the governments of various countries may make an attempt to disrupt the US presidential election in November. According to officials and cybersecurity specialists, recent breaches at the Democratic National Committee and the other agencies of the Democratic party could be sponsored by people within the Russian government. Of course, The Russian Federation has denied the allegations of its involvement in the breach.
Media reports also note that the homeland security secretary convened a conference call with state election officials earlier in August over concerns about election computer security and offered help in making the voting systems more secure.
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| State Voter Election Databases Hacked |
The FBI’s cyber division issued the warning in a flash alert. News reports cited unnamed law enforcement officials who claimed that foreign hackers caused the intrusions. Although the issued warning didn’t name the targeted states, some media reports refer to Arizona and Illinois, whose voter registration systems were breached. For example, Yahoo News informed that the Illinois voter registration system was shut down for more than a week in July after the intruders stole personal data on 200,000 voters. Talking about the Arizona attack, Yahoo News quoted a state official saying that it was more limited and introduced malware into the voter registration system. However, no data was removed in the attack.
Apparently, US intelligence officials have become increasingly worried that hackers sponsored by the governments of various countries may make an attempt to disrupt the US presidential election in November. According to officials and cybersecurity specialists, recent breaches at the Democratic National Committee and the other agencies of the Democratic party could be sponsored by people within the Russian government. Of course, The Russian Federation has denied the allegations of its involvement in the breach.
Media reports also note that the homeland security secretary convened a conference call with state election officials earlier in August over concerns about election computer security and offered help in making the voting systems more secure.
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