U.S. lawmakers of both political parties told VOA they have no reason to doubt that Russian hackers are targeting America’s voting infrastructure with the possible intent of disrupting or undermining confidence in the November elections. “I don’t think it’s a stretch because Russia’s been engaged in cyberattacks against the United States,” said Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas. “These are well known to our national security experts. So no, it does not surprise me.” “We know Russia has been very active in cyberattacks in the United States, and we know that they mine for information all the time,” said Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat. “Nothing surprises me about Russia.”
Federal officials believe Russian hackers penetrated voter databases in Arizona and Illinois earlier this year, and have urged all 50 states to be vigilant.
“There is an increasing level of sophistication by cyberattackers across the spectrum, whether it’s nation-state actors, plain criminals,” said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on MSNBC. “And so we want to inform state election officials of what we see on a national level as best practices.”
While acknowledging a threat exists, Johnson downplayed the possibility of a foreign entity managing to alter ballot totals in any state. He noted that, while the vast majority of voting machines in the United States are electronic, they are not linked to the Internet, and results are collected and reported by local election officials at polling stations.
Full Article: US Lawmakers Wary of Russian Cyberattacks as Elections Near.