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

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.

Comments

Illinois you say

[Bob the Super Hamste]

So it sounds like things won't change much in Illinois. I believe the saying goes:

I’ve arranged with my executor to be buried in Chicago. Because when I die, I want to still remain active politically.

No...just, no.

[daveschroeder]

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. I can think of few things more damaging to the democratic institution.

See also:

A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories

Washington State uses this fancy new method

[WillAffleckUW]

We use these things called paper ballots.

So does Oregon.

We all vote by mail, so hack all you want.

We can always rerun the paper ballots again.

Re:A effective attack and defense

[sycodon]

A Better Defense.

1. Take the fucking registration systems OFF the internet.

You'd think the State IT departments never heard of something called the Intranet.

Re: Just stop this nonsense

[PopeRatzo]

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.

Re:A effective attack and defense

[Albanach]

There was a GNU project to create free software for online voting. In 2002, Jason Kitcat the project coordinator abandoned development, pointing to this quote from Bruce Schneier: "a secure Internet voting system is theoretically possible, but it would be the first secure networked application ever created in the history of computers."

I don't see anything having changed in the intervening fourteen years, other than perhaps attackers getting more sophisticated. We may not have internet voting, but the idea that voting machines or those used in the tabulation of votes are connected to the internet is madness.