FBI Director James Comey addressed the issue speaking to government and private-industry experts attending the Symantec Government Symposium in Washington, D.C.
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The FBI is warning state officials to boost their election security in light of evidence that hackers targeted related data systems in two states. In June, after the discovery of malware on the computer of a county election official, the state shut down its online voter registration for nine days. The move to have the computer system inspected comes after the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned state officials to boost their election security in light of evidence that hackers targeted related data systems in two states.
The FBI didn’t name the states that were targeted, but it described a “compromise” of one elections board website and “attempted intrusion activities” in another state’s system.
Top congressional Democrats have asked Comey to investigate whether the Russian government is trying to undermine US elections through hacking, and whether there is a direct connection between the attacks and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign. But many suspect Russian hackers could be to blame.
“The prospect of a hostile government actively seeking to undermine our free and fair elections represents one of the gravest threats to our democracy since the Cold War”, Reid wrote in his August 27 letter to Comey, adding that the FBI should “investigate this matter thoroughly”. To bolster elections’ cybersecurity, the government would need to designate election systems as “critical infrastructure”, which is something Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has said should be considered.
“This is the closest we’ve come to tying a recent hack to the Russian government”, the official that revealed the Russian connection of the hackers said. “It’s incredibly important to expect more from our elections officials”.
After those damaging emails were publicly released by WikiLeaks, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down as DNC chairwoman.
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In July, news broke that Russians were thought to be behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee’s email. Menzel has said repeatedly that the hack didn’t compromise voter information.
