FBI Says Two State Election Databases Compromised by Foreign Hackers
Foreign hackers have broken into two state election databases, according to evidence uncovered by the FBI, which is now warning election officials nationwide to enhance the security of their computer systems.
Yahoo! News reports the FBI’s Cyber Division sent out a “flash” alert indicating that the FBI received information of two separate IP addresses detected in the July 2016 compromise of a state’s Board of Election website and the August 2016 “attempted intrusion” of another state’s Board of Election system.
The FBI bulletin did not identify which states were compromised, but Yahoo! cited “sources familiar with the document” that indicated voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois were targeted by suspected foreign hackers.
In the Illinois case, officials were forced to shut down the state’s voter registration system for ten days in late July, after the hackers managed to download personal data on up to 200,000 state voters, Ken Menzel, the general counsel of the Illinois Board of Elections, said in an interview. The Arizona attack was more limited, involving malicious software that was introduced into its voter registration system but no successful exfiltration of data, a state official said.
The FBI bulletin listed eight separate IP addresses that were the sources of the two attacks and suggested that the attacks may have been linked, noting that one of the IP addresses was used in both intrusions. The bulletin implied that the bureau was looking for any signs that the attacks may have been attempting to target even more than the two states. “The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity to their logs, both inbound and outbound, has been detected,” the alert reads. “Attempts should not be made to touch or ping the IP addresses directly.”
This news comes amid recent cyber attacks from suspected foreign actors on the Democratic National Committee and Democratic members of Congress. (For more from the author of “FBI Says Two State Election Databases Compromised by Foreign Hackers” please click HERE)
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