Reports that a foreign government is suspected of attempting to hack into American election systems have generated interest and cautious concern, at most, among Ohio elections officials. And the person at the top of the state’s election bureaucracy warned that it should not become a justification for a federal takeover. State and local elections officials said the elections process is already under close security scrutiny, is kept unconnected to the Internet, and — most importantly — maintains a paper database. “You don’t have to worry about our server being hacked because our server is not hooked up to the Internet and it can’t be by law,” said Gina Kaczala, the Republican director of the Lucas County Board of Elections. “The secretary of state is taking everything seriously and they do take tight control.”
In Illinois, hackers accessed a database in July of the Illinois Board of Elections, compromising up to 200,000 personal voter records, according to Ken Menzel, general counsel for the board.
In Arizona, officials had to take the statewide voting registration system offline in late May after the FBI alerted the Arizona Department of Administration that there was a credible cyber threat to the voter registration system, said Matthew Roberts, director of communications for the Arizona secretary of state. Federal officials responded in part by recommending more federal oversight of elections.
Investigators believe the hackers in both cases are likely based overseas, according to a law enforcement official cited by CNN. Yahoo.com reported that ThreatConnect, a firm founded by former U.S. military intelligence analysts, reported the group found evidence of a Russian state-sponsored attack.
Full Article: Officials say elections under close security – The Blade.