The Independent View: Mueller's Report Finds Hacking Attempts to States Election Systems

The FBI suspects that Kremlin Agents Breached the Network of "at least one" Florida County Government after Sending Phishing Emails to Local Election Officials.

In the months before the 2016 Presidential Election, Russia’s Military Intelligence Agency penetrated Computer Systems and Planted Malware in Systems at a Manufacturer of Election Equipment.

The Penetration of the Election Equipment Manufacturer, identified elsewhere as VR Systems of Tallahassee, Fla., had been known, but not that Malware specifically had been Planted. The Company makes Electronic Pollbooks and other Devices that help Officials Run Elections, but does Not make Voting Machines.

The Report did Not cite any Evidence that the Breaches compromised Election Results in Florida or elsewhere. But they might have Changed Voter Roll Records, and said Mueller had left further Investigation of the Incidents to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Disclosure of the Suspected Breach added to Accounts of Russia’s Systematic effort to Access Voter Registration Rolls and other Election Systems outlined last year by American intelligence Officials and in Federal Indictments.

When Florida Voters went to the Polls for their 2017 Primaries, many Voters complained their Voting Records had been Changed or Removed.

The Mueller Report also Confirms the Russians tried to Hack the Illinois Board of Elections Website in 2016.

In one instance in approximately June 2016, the Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) Compromised the Computer Network of the Illinois State Board of Elections (SBOE) by Exploiting a Vulnerability in the SBOE’s Website. The GRU then gained Access to a Database containing Information on Millions of Registered Illinois Voters and Extracted Data related to Thousands of U.S. Voters before the Malicious Activity was Identified, the Report States.

This was Part of an Effort of the GRU to determine “Vulnerabilities” on Websites of more than Two Dozen States, including Illinois.

The Chicago Sun-Times Reported on the Hacking attempt in 2017. The Hack had nothing to do with Counting Votes in Elections. The Hackers looked at Voting Registration Data: Name, Address, Date of Birth, Gender, and the Last Four Digits in the Social Security Number.

In all, Hackers Searched through about 80,000 Records, with the Elections Board Confirming the Records of just under 3,000 Voters were Viewed by the Hackers.

A Report on another Breach prepared by the Illinois State Board of Elections on Aug. 26th, 2016, details how the Hackers were Detected by State Board Information Technology Staffers.