Also, Sen. Mark Warner Seeks State Election Hacking Details From DHS
Concerns over Russian hacking of state election systems are mounting. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a review of security efforts related to state elections. On Capitol Hill, Sen. Mark Warner wants DHS to release additional details relating to cyberattacks targeting state election systems.
In New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a review of the Empire State’s election-related security efforts. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has asked the Department of Homeland Security to release more information about hack attacks targeting state elections.
At the Justice Department, a team headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller is investigating alleged Russian attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election, in part via hacking and online propaganda, and any ties it might have to the campaign of Donald Trump. While there had been previous reports of Russian hackers attempting to infiltrate some states’ election systems, Bloomberg News recently reported that in fact, 39 states were targeted (see Election Systems’ Hacks Far Greater Than First Realized).
One thing that isn’t clear is the extent to which hackers may have been amassing information on U.S. voters to attempt to sway opinions via online propaganda. In a related development, 198 million voter registration records maintained by a data analytics company aligned with the Republican Party, which attempted to predict which messages would most likely appeal to voters, were recently found to be exposed to the internet (see 198 Million US Voter Records Left Online For Two Weeks).
