The FBI alert, first reported by Yahoo News, did not mention Russian Federation.
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Earlier this month, hackers used the same vulnerability in an “attempted intrusion activities into another state’s Board of Election system”, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
The FBI is now warning election officials across the country to take new steps to bolster the security of computer systems.
The hackers did not compromise state or county systems, the Washington Post reported, but did steal the username and password of just one election official.
The FBI bulletin does not attribute the two attacks to any particular group, although Yahoo News traces a few pieces of evidence that link the attack to Russian Federation. But many suspect Russian hackers could be to blame. But experts said that if a foreign government gained the ability to tamper with voter data – for instance by deleting registration records – such a hack could cast doubt on the legitimacy of US elections.
“Even if a voter’s record was viewed, the Board is sure no records have been altered or changed in any way”, the State Board of Elections said in a release.
In Arizona hackers unsuccessfully tried to breach the voter registration system using malicious software, said reports. What the hackers plan to do with the information is unclear-it could range from stealing voters’ personal information to using voter records to affect the election process-and US intelligence officials did not speak directly about what they believe the intention of these hackers truly is.
The FBI suspects the two intrusions in Arizona and IL were linked. The FBI has identified several computer IP addresses linked to the election hacking that they traced to servers in Russia, Bulgaria, turkey and the Netherlands, but cyber experts said that doesn’t necessarily mean the attackers were in those locations. Security and intelligence experts have said they believe the DNC was hacked by interests linked to Russian Federation.
An FBI spokeswoman said on Monday that the bureau does not comment on specific alerts, but noted that it “routinely advises” on “various cyber threat indicators observed during the course of our investigations”. “This data is provided in order to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber criminals”.
“This is a wake-up call for other states to look at their systems”, Tom Hicks, the chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, told Yahoo.
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The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the attacks were attributed to Russian intelligence services.
