The state’s top elections official says the state’s voting systems are buffeted by cyber attacks. Now Iowa’s secretary of state is launching a new partnership to try and insulate the department. According to Secretary of State Paul Pate, Iowa’s elections website and voter databases are hit by hundreds of thousands of threats on a daily basis. He said the majority of attacks are U.S.-based bots trying to steal personal information for financial gain. But so far Iowa’s voting systems have not been compromised, Pate said. “I’ve assured Iowans and I’ll assure them again today that our system is intact, that it has not been hacked. There are no foreign countries manipulating your votes or accessing your voting information,” he said.
Pate described the process of blocking the attacks as a constant battle. Now the secretary is forming a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, county officials and tech experts to review the state’s systems, recommend updates and draft policy suggestions.
“When you talk about 99 counties, some are large, some are small. And they have different levels of resources. So what my goal is…is to try to develop templates, if you will, or resources, that will accommodate them,” Pate said.
Full Article: Secretary of State Launches Cybersecurity Partnership | Iowa Public Radio.