The voter rolls in several states in 2016 were “successfully penetrated” by Russian hackers, U.S. cybersecurity officials reported Wednesday.
A U.S. Cybersecurity official said Wednesday that Russia “successfully penetrated” the voter rolls in a small number of states in 2016. The head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Jeanette Manfra in an interview with NBC News said that Russia targeted 21 states and “an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.”
Manfra was the first that revealed to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russian hackers had the systems of 21 states targeted even before the elections.
According to The Hill, the voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois were also previously breached by hackers. Alabama, California, Colorado, Wisconsin and Florida are among the other states that have confirmed they were targeted.
However, the officials said that there is no evidence any of the voter rolls were altered in any way.
The election officials in the states were previously warned by Homeland Security that they are targeted as part of preparations to probe for vulnerabilities.
Manfra, in a recent interview with The Hill, said that while she is unaware of any credible targeting efforts related to the 2018 midterm elections, she remains worried about the possible threat.
“I will always be worried about it and it is always something that entities are going to look to influence our democratic processes, as a country, we should be in a position to counter that,” she said.
As a precaution, the department is conducting extensive vulnerability tests and additional services to the states that need to level up their cybersecurity of the elections systems before the midterm elections start. Also, a whole new infrastructure of the voting system will be placed as soon as it is finished.
Homeland Security continues working with the state election officials to investigate and share any new information they have on future cyber threats.
Be the first to comment