Our Elections have been hacked- NBC, AP, ABC, Bloomberg, etc stories

9-29-2016 – NBCNEWS – Hackers Target Election Systems in 20 States – There have been hacking attempts on election systems in more than 20 states — far more than had been previously acknowledged — a senior Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News.

9-13-2016 – NBCNEWS – NSA Chief: Potential Russian Hacking of U.S. Elections a Concern – The head of the National Security Agency said Tuesday that the potential for Russia to harm the U.S. electoral process in the upcoming general election is a concern.

8-29-2016 – NBCNEWS – Russians Hacked Two U.S. Voter Databases, Officials Say – Hackers based in Russia were behind two recent attempts to breach state voter registration databases, fueling concerns the Russian government may be trying to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, U.S. intelligence officials tell NBC News. The breaches included the theft of data from as many as 200,000 voter records in Illinois, officials say.

10-1-2016 ABCNEWS – Over 20 states’ voter registration systems have been hacked, officials say – It’s been a few months since Donald Trump invited Russia to look into Hillary Clinton’s email servers, and just a few days since he accused a 400-pound hacker of being behind the attack on the DNC earlier this summer. But all “joking” aside, cybersecurity is becoming a more relevant and recent issue than ever this election cycle. On Friday, a Homeland Security Department official revealed that hackers targeted the voter registration systems in over 20 states in the last few months, perhaps adding more fuel to the fire that is the mistrust in the election system this cycle. Sources told ABC News that of the attempted attacks on the voter registration systems, four were ultimately compromised. Russia is suspected to be behind the malfeasance.

10-3-2016 – Legal Insurrection – DHS: Hackers Targeted 21 Election Systems in 21 States – The FBI provided “eight separate IP addresses” and thinks they may have been linked since the hackers used one address in both the attacks. The department recognized one address since it “surfaced before in Russian criminal underground hacker forums.” Rich Barger, chief intelligence officer for cybersecurity firm ThreatConnect, told Yahoo News that “the method of attack on one of the state election systems — including the types of tools used by the hackers to scan for vulnerabilities and exploit them — appears to resemble methods used in other suspected Russian state-sponsored cyber attacks, including one just this month on the World Anti-Doping Agency.” However, the tools are not very sophisticated, but “very effective,” which is why “national governments or their proxies” use them.

10-1-2016 – Bloomberg – Wary of Election Hacks, U.S. Urges States to Get Security Help – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is urging state and local election officials to seek assistance from the federal government to fend off cyber attacks that could be used to manipulate the results of the November presidential elections. The agency is ready to provide any assistance to help states secure their systems, if they request it, Jeh Johnson, the secretary of homeland security, said in a statement Saturday. Threats are rising that criminals will use cyber attacks to try to disrupt the administration of U.S. elections, the agency said.

“These challenges aren’t just in the future — they are here today,” Johnson said in the statement. “In recent months, malicious cyber-actors have been scanning a large number of state systems, which could be a preamble to attempted intrusions. In a few cases, we have determined that malicious actors gained access to state voting-related systems.” Johnson’s statement is in response to a Sept. 28 letter from the top Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate to the National Association of State Election Directors, urging states to take advantage of public resources available to help them secure their systems.

9-28-2016 Letter from Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to the National Association of State Election Directors MUST READ– “Today, the states face the challenge of malefactors that are seeking to use cyberattacks to disrupt the administration of our elections. We urge the states to take full advantage of the robust public and private sector resources available to them to ensure that their network infrastructure is secure from attack.” [editors note:] Something simple and deeply troubling about this letter.