Did Russians Really Penetrate Florida's Election Systems? Maybe (nbcnews.com)

Anonymous readers share a report: Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, has reaped the political whirlwind in the 10 days since he proclaimed that Russian hackers had "penetrated" some of his state's county voting systems. The governor of Florida, Rick Scott, a Republican who is running against Nelson for his U.S. Senate seat this fall, has blasted his claim as irresponsible. The top Florida elections official, also a Republican, said he had seen no indication it's true. And The Washington Post weighed in Friday with a 2,717-word fact check that all but accused Nelson -- without evidence -- of making it up. However, three people familiar with the intelligence tell NBC News that there is a classified basis for Nelson's assertion, which he made at a public event after being given information from the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The extent and seriousness of the threat remains unclear, shrouded for reasons of national security.

[...] Through a spokesman, Nelson declined to comment. At a, Aug. 7 campaign event in Florida's capital, Nelson said Intelligence Committee leaders asked that he "let supervisors of elections in Florida know that Russians are inside our records." He added that Russian hackers "have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about." "Either Bill Nelson knows of crucial information the federal government is withholding from Florida election officials, or he is simply making things up," said Scott, who is seeking to take Nelson's Senate seat, which the senator has held since 2001. But Scott, who as governor has a security clearance, has not actually disputed Nelson's assertion. His spokesman said the governor had not personally called anyone at the Department of Homeland Security to seek a classified briefing to get to the bottom of the matter.

Comments

"people familiar"

[cfalcon]

Anonymous sources said that there's a basis that can't be disclosed or discussed or refuted. Sounds legit.

Re:"people familiar"

[ClickOnThis]

And the reason is classified. County-level government has no legally-enforceable national security information classifications.

Elections are explicitly local. National security information classes are explicitly federal.

For crying out loud, it's right in TFS and TFA:

However, three people familiar with the intelligence tell NBC News that there is a classified basis for Nelson's assertion, which he made at a public event after being given information from the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The extent and seriousness of the threat remains unclear, shrouded for reasons of national security.

NBC claims it has three sources who say the intel is federal, and it is classified at that level. And it is not at all uncommon for the media to keep their sources confidential.

Re:"people familiar"

[king neckbeard]

It's also not at all uncommon for the media to just parrot whatever the government says uncritically. that's how we ended up in Iraq.

None of the stories on Slashdot are news for nerds

[Anonymous Coward]

This site sucks now. Bring back CmdrTaco and the old OpenSource Tech Slashdot days. Endless political drivel now.

Bring in Voter ID

[Anonymous Coward]

It's the only way to be sure.

Russians

[Anonymous Coward]

Weird that Russians are suddenly the boogie man again after Romney was lambasted for asserting the Russians were a threat.

Does it matter?

[Kohath]

Blue team people (including the news media) will repeat it if it's useful to advance blue team political goals. Red team people will disbelieve it and ridicule it if it's harmful to red team political goals. What really happened is not relevant to the response; this is America.

USA manipulating Russian elections is a fact:

[Anonymous Coward]

They openly bragged about it in the Washington Post:

How they funnelled $500 million in campaign money to Yeltsin. The fat alcoholic dancing bear that NOBODY liked. Via the IMF. Versus the opponent's $3 million. Using propaganda like "If Zyuganov comes back, the gulag comes back". And whenever he wanted to go to bed in his hotel, "somebody" had cancelled his hotel room. (Very ... mature. --.--)

Yeltsin later appointed a somebody as the new head of government... What was his name again? ... Aah, yes... VLADIMIR PUTIN!

So if the USA thinks that Putin manipulated their elections, then ... I'll just leave you alone with that thought. :)

Re:It's a misdirect

[TigerPlish]

We live in a scary time, reminiscent of the run-up to nazi Germany.

Loves rallies? Check. (and I don't mean WRC.....)

Fans the flames of racial division to fire up their base? Check.

Tars and feathers anyone who dares speak against him? Check.

Thinks he should have final, unfettered control over everything? Check.

Dismisses anything he disagrees with as Fake News? Check.

Who am I speaking of? Hitler or Trump? Or both?

Your point, I'm sad to say, is lost. The current person in the white house reminds *me* of nazi Germany.

You're trying to equate the left with Nazi Germany, but that's not how it looks to me. The right is the one that seems like it's stolen the playbook from 1930's Germany,

Mod me down, whatever.. you think conservatives are the only ones having their speech supressed? Look around, read /. political comments at -1. Try it. It feels like there are two warring factions in /. right now. Perfectly valid points on both sides get modded as -oblivion, Troll.

Whatever. Bring it on. This country will burn no matter who wins, it's destined for a desconstruction and rebuilding. It's inevitable. It's just a matter of time.

Election systems have to be secured...

[Karmashock]

This has been brought up for decades.

But say there is an issue with registration fraud, voter fraud, polling station security, vote counting systems, etc and suddenly you get some very suspicious push back.

Say you want ID to make sure people aren't running around to different polling stations and pretending to be people they aren't... and you get accused of racism.

Why? Because black people can't get ID cards apparently.

Say you want to secure polling station security, and you'll get the assertion that polling stations where operate under very lax oversight are beyond repute... even though stories of bags full of pre-filled out voter cards exist everywhere.

You say that vote counting systems that often use something like Microsoft Access to tabulate the votes of an entire state are perhaps not the best options... and that the digital security of the records has issues... that the underlying digital voting systems themselves in some states are open to abuse... prove it with an 11 year old busting the system... well, no action.

Frankly, at this point, anyone arguing against this thing can't be doing it in good faith anymore. The overwhelming evidence is that we need reform.