The U.S federal government told election officials in 21 of 50 American states that hackers attempted to disrupt their election systems last year.
Last year only, the government had admitted that more than 20 states were targeted by hackers who are said to be Russian agents before the 2016's Presidential elections. However, the notification from the Department of Homeland Security was the first official confirmation for many states whether their states were targeted or not.
The Associated Press contacted every election office, those who confirmed that they were targeted include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Though the government did not disclose or provided any details about the hackers, election officials in three states said that the hackers could be linked to Russia.
The Wisconsin Election Commission said that their systems were targeted by “Russian government cyber actors.”
“It is completely unacceptable that it has taken DHS over a year to inform our office of Russian scanning of our systems, despite our repeated requests for information,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, said in a statement.
“The practice of withholding critical information from elections officials is a detriment to the security of our elections and our democracy.”
Federal officials said that there was no breach of sensitive data, scanning of computer systems were done as a preparatory activity. Voter registration system was targeted but not vote tallying software. Most of the attempts to compromise networks but were unsuccessful.
A spokesman for the Colorado secretary of state's office, Trevor Timmons, said the hacking was not quite a breach.
“It's really reconnaissance by a bad guy to try and figure out how we would break into your computer,” said Timmons. “It's not an attack. I wouldn't call it a probe. It's not a breach, it's not a penetration.”
Last year only, the government had admitted that more than 20 states were targeted by hackers who are said to be Russian agents before the 2016's Presidential elections. However, the notification from the Department of Homeland Security was the first official confirmation for many states whether their states were targeted or not.
The Associated Press contacted every election office, those who confirmed that they were targeted include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Though the government did not disclose or provided any details about the hackers, election officials in three states said that the hackers could be linked to Russia.
The Wisconsin Election Commission said that their systems were targeted by “Russian government cyber actors.”
“It is completely unacceptable that it has taken DHS over a year to inform our office of Russian scanning of our systems, despite our repeated requests for information,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, said in a statement.
“The practice of withholding critical information from elections officials is a detriment to the security of our elections and our democracy.”
Federal officials said that there was no breach of sensitive data, scanning of computer systems were done as a preparatory activity. Voter registration system was targeted but not vote tallying software. Most of the attempts to compromise networks but were unsuccessful.
A spokesman for the Colorado secretary of state's office, Trevor Timmons, said the hacking was not quite a breach.
“It's really reconnaissance by a bad guy to try and figure out how we would break into your computer,” said Timmons. “It's not an attack. I wouldn't call it a probe. It's not a breach, it's not a penetration.”
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