Illinois voter registry breach smaller than first thought
An by an Illinois election official last week that hackers stole the personal information of 200,000 voters incited worries about how to safeguard the Nov. 8 elections across the country.
It turns out the breach , according to an update from the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The board suspects hackers viewed the records of 86,000 voters, according to an Aug. 31 press release. The board confirmed 700 of those records had been viewed. Hackers could have breached voters鈥� names, address, and dates of birth. If a voter listed it, hackers could have also viewed his or her phone number, email address, driver鈥檚 license number, or the last four digits of his or her Social Security number.
鈥淸But] the board is sure no records have been altered or changed in any way,鈥� reads the release.
Along with the leak of Democratic National Committee emails in June, news of breaches of the Illinois and Arizona voting systems has led to concerns about how to protect the integrity of future elections. But, the board鈥檚 update underscores state and federal officials still don鈥檛 know these hackers鈥� motivations and how credible a threat they pose.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know whether the hackers were engaging in espionage, attempting to manipulate the election, or just harvesting low-hanging cyber fruit for their financial gain,鈥� Jessica Beyer, a cybersecurity postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, and author of 鈥淓xpect Us: Online Communities and Political Mobilization,鈥� writes in a column for Reuters. 聽
鈥淣either the DNC nor the voter registration attacks,鈥� she adds, 鈥渟hould come as a surprise. With so many actors, motives, and targets,聽.鈥�
When Illinois officials became aware of a breach in July, they shut down their voter registration system for 10 days.
鈥淭his was a most likely from a foreign [international] entity,鈥� Kyle Thomas, director of voting and registration systems for the state board of elections, wrote in a Facebook message sent that month to all election authorities in the state.
With an FBI investigation into the breach ongoing, the board in Illinois is now 鈥渃onfident鈥� no information in the database was added, changed, or deleted, and many of the voter records viewed contained information otherwise publicly available from other sources, according to the Aug. 31 release.
In Arizona, meanwhile, it appears hackers used malware steal the username and password of just a single election official in Gila County, according to The Washington Post.
Yet, because hackers could, in theory, sway elections, state and federal officials aren鈥檛 taking any precautions.
鈥淗aving access to voter rolls, for example, could allow hackers to digitally alter or delete registration information, ,鈥� writes Politico鈥檚 Cory Bennett and Eric Geller. 鈥淥r news of the attack could simply fuel further distrust in the U.S. election system, which Trump has repeatedly alleged is 鈥榬igged.鈥� 鈥�
The White House, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security have all taken steps to understand this threat. The White House has ordered a Cold War-era organization, the Foreign Denial and Deception Committee, of the implications of Russia鈥檚 recent hack of the DNC, according to NBC News. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have also warned all election officials of the threat of possible cyber threats, and have offered their assistance to these state entities to protect their systems.
Cybersecurity experts have also warned that electronic voting systems are an easy target for hackers, as 海角大神鈥檚 David Iaconangelo reported Thursday. But, 35 states backup ballots through an electronic paper trail, allowing election officials to cross-reference electronic voting records with physical ones. But the Verified Voting Foundation says five states 鈥� N.J., Delaware, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina 鈥� lack such a system.聽
These concerns shouldn鈥檛 come as a surprise, however. Ms. Beyer, the cybersecurity postdoctoral fellow, writes it鈥檚 the age we live in.
鈥淭hese records attacks highlight the need for every organization that manages private data to work harder at making it secure,鈥� she writes. 鈥淲hoever the actor and whatever their motive, the world is rich with appealing data targets.鈥澛�
