The FBI is warning state elections officials in Maryland and around the country to be on their guard against hackers after the breach of a voter information database in IL and an attempted attack in Arizona.
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The FBI warning, contained in a “flash” alert from the FBI’s Cyber Division, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News, comes amid heightened concerns among USA intelligence officials about the possibility of cyberintrusions, potentially by Russian state-sponsored hackers, aimed at disrupting the November elections.
The FBI’s August 18 warning also came just days after Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson hosted a call with secretaries of state and other state election officials to talk about cybersecurity and election infrastructure. In Illinois, officials told Yahoo News that hackers stole personal data on up to 200,000 voters. One of them, the investigation revealed, resulted in theft of voter registration data.
Menzel said that he had been told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the attack came from “foreign hackers” and that there was a “possible link” with the attack against the Democratic National Committee servers, which is believed by some to have been carried out by Russian state actors.
In a conference call with state election officials, Johnson did inform them of basic cyber security hygiene practices, including the disconnection of electronic voting machines from the internet while ballots are being cast.
“This is the closest we’ve come to tying a recent hack to the Russian government”, the official said.
DHS has offered to help states increase security of their systems, but states have rebuffed federal help and largely believe their systems are secure.
“This was a highly sophisticated attack most likely from a foreign (international) entity”, said Kyle Thomas, director of voting and registration systems for the Illinois State Board of Elections, in a message that was sent to all election authorities in the state.
The FBI bulletin reportedly provided eight IP addresses connected to the attacks.
Both the Arizona and IL state boards of elections didn’t immediately respond for comment.
The FBI’s Cyber Division has issued a warning that foreign hackers are targeting – and perhaps even penetrating – state election and voter registration systems in the US. The state’s system isn’t linked to city or county government elections departments. However, officials concluded the system was not successfully compromised.
The FBI is investigating hacking attempts against The New York Times and other media outlets.
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A spokesman for California secretary of state said the agency, which oversees elections statewide, was aware of the cyber attack reports.
