US midterm elections see cyberattacks on state websites, but officials say no threat to votes
A top U.S. cybersecurity agency said Tuesday it was helping to fix problems with websites in some states that were hit by a cyberattack during the U.S. midterm elections, but it also disrupted voting infrastructure. We did not see any credible threats aimed at
A senior Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) official told reporters, “There are no specific or credible threats to disrupt election infrastructure.”
Since officials discovered that Russia interfered in a campaign of hacking and propaganda aimed at undermining Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning over Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. , election security has emerged as a key issue in the United States.
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US cyber chief: No reason to believe election infrastructure ‘at risk’ before midterm elections
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US cyber chief: No reason to believe election infrastructure ‘at risk’ before midterm elections
The “D-DOS” attack, which struck websites in multiple states on Tuesday, flooded the websites with malicious Internet traffic, rendering them temporarily inaccessible. But such an attack would not affect the voting or counting of votes, a senior federal official told journalists on condition of anonymity.
“We are aware of the potential for D-DOS attacks affecting many websites of state election offices, campaigns, and partisan organizations,” the official said.
“It is important to remember that even a successful D-DOS attack will not affect a user’s ability to vote or vote. A possible attack cannot cast doubt on the security and resilience of the election.”
Officials said “a handful” of states were affected and their websites were restored “relatively quickly.”
“Although attribution is inherently difficult, we saw no evidence to suggest that they were part of a widespread and coordinated campaign,” the official said.
The Champaign, Illinois, county clerk’s office said earlier in the day that their website had been targeted with such attacks for a month, but none were successful. “No data or information has been compromised and the election is secure,” the Secretariat told Reuters in a statement.
Websites in Mississippi continue to be down due to similar attacks, and CISA officials said they are working with local officials to mitigate the impact.
In a statement Tuesday evening, Secretary of State Michael Watson assured voters that the Mississippi electoral system was “secure and uncompromised.”
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In Maricopa County, Arizona, local officials were working to repair a malfunctioning electronic voting machine that Trump and his followers falsely claimed was evidence of election fraud.
CISA officials said they saw no evidence of malicious activity in Maricopa.
“To be clear, there is no indication of cheating or malicious activity. This was a technical issue and they have resolved it.”
Responding to questions about the delay in reporting election results, a CISA official said: This is a normal verification process that takes days to weeks. ”
(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in San Francisco and Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Hogue)
US midterm elections see cyberattacks on state websites, but officials say no threat to votes
Source link US midterm elections see cyberattacks on state websites, but officials say no threat to votes
