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FBI Says Foreign Hackers Breached State Election Systems (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the changes-everything dept.

The FBI has uncovered evidence that foreign hackers breached two state election databases in recent weeks, and it has warned election officials across the country to some measures to step up the security of their computer systems. The Guardian reports: The FBI warning did not identify the two states targeted by cyber intruders, but Yahoo News said sources familiar with the document said it referred to Arizona and Illinois, whose voter registration systems were penetrated. Citing a state election board official, Yahoo News said the Illinois voter registration system was shut down for 10 days in late July after hackers downloaded personal data on up to 200,000 voters. The Arizona attack was more limited and involved introducing malicious software into the voter registration system, Yahoo News quoted a state official as saying. No data was removed in that attack, the official said. US intelligence officials have become increasingly worried that hackers sponsored by Russia or other countries may attempt to disrupt the November presidential election.

3 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Just stop this nonsense by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you register to vote you also get responsibilities like jury duty and selective service.

    Selective service is not tied to your voter registration in any way.

    In some states, there is a connection with drivers license, and with student loans, but in no US state is there any connection between registering to vote and selective service.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Re:No...just, no. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Informative

    No one actually has to "hack" anything -- just get the thought out there. No matter who wins, stories like this will be cited by the losing side as "proof" the election was "rigged" or "hacked", and that the winner didn't win legitimately.

    One side is already making this argument, and is recruiting an army of armed "observers" to stand around polling places and act menacing.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com...

    http://www.vanityfair.com/news...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  3. Re:Just stop this nonsense by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Informative

    Please stop this nonsense and autoregister everyone who is allowed to vote.

    So you send ballots to everyone, even those who have no desire to vote, and have not bothered to study any of the issues at all because of that. Why should they be voting if they really care so little about the process?

    Voter registration is so easy that it is a barrier only to those who really don't care to vote, and I think that not handing them a ballot is a good answer to the question "why should I register to vote when I don't want to?"