DHS’ Explanation Sought in Attempted Breach into Election Systems of Georgia

Secretary Brian Kemp for Georgia State lately contacted Department of Homeland Security for elaborating on what seems there was an attempted hack into several PCs of the state which contain the database of voter registration pertaining to Georgia that a federal government employee stored. Wsj.com posted this, December 8, 2016.

An intermediate cyber security company engaged to conduct various tasks for Georgia identified the unsuccessful hack while found it connected to one Internet Protocol address related to the Department-of-Homeland-Security (DHS). Brian Kemp Secretary of State for Georgia is understood to have written to DHS asking it for confirming if anyone tried committing a hack.

Kemp within his letter sought the department's confirmation if it attempted a scan of the computer systems, the authorized official's name who ordered the scan, as also if DHS was conducting other state computers' scan devoid of authorization.

Further in his letter Kemp notes that the PCs being targeted contained the private details belonging to more than 6.5m Georgians, 800K corporate units along with more than 500K registered/licensed professionals.

Some quarters raised questions of whether there was adequate security of PCs at different states which hold election databases. It's reported that Homeland Security declared that voting devices were "critical infrastructure" thus authorizing the federal department towards safeguarding such systems.

The letter cited '18 U.S.C. Article 1030,' under which attempt at acquiring admission into protected PCs or acquiring excess access from the authorized limit was illegal. A DHS official confirmed receipt of the letter as also said that the department was investigating.

DHS put a great effort ahead of U.S' elections in November for assisting states in enhancing the security of election PCs from probable hacks ever since the peak of apprehensions about foreign intrusion into America's election process during the months early of the Election Day.

DHS' declaration of voting computers as critical infrastructure so the federal agency had extra authority towards protection of those computers didn't work out though since many states felt worried regarding extra federal control over the voting devices they maintained as well as cited the constitution's provision of state right towards holding elections within their jurisdictions.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/14/2016