Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says the integrity of the state's elections system remains intact, although he acknowledges it's been repeatedly attacked by outsiders who have included would-be hackers from Russia.

"On a regular basis, we have bad actors who attempt to breach our system. Hundreds of thousands every single day ... and we deflect them so that they are not successful," Pate said. "To be a hacker, they have to actually get into the system. We have not been hacked. The Russians have not hacked us."

But Pate, a Republican who is Iowa's chief elections official, confirmed to The Des Moines Register this week that he intends to ask the Iowa Legislature in 2018 for additional money for technology upgrades to the state's elections system. The cost won't be in the millions of dollars, but it will be significant, he added.

"We have to stay ahead of the curve here. We need to make sure we are head of the bad guys before they come," Pate said.

One of his concerns, Pate added, is to ensure that election records maintained by county auditors remain secure. State officials also need to work with technology experts to make sure the state is doing everything possible to protect against cyber-intruders, he said.

Pate acknowledged last week that there were "attempted outside intrusions" on the state's elections system last year, but no breaches. Pate spoke after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified election officials in 21 states, including Iowa, that hackers targeted their systems in 2016.

Those comments sparked criticism from a Democrat seeking Pate's seat in 2018. Jim Mowrer contended Pate hasn't been giving Iowans "straight answers" about hacking incidents that occurred last year, suggesting the incumbent has misled voters and hidden the truth.

"I believe we need fair, accessible and secure elections in this state," Mowrer said. "That begins by electing a secretary of state committed to honesty and transparency."

But Pate insisted Tuesday there has been nothing inconsistent in his statements over the past year about the integrity of Iowa's elections and previous hacking attempts.

The secretary of state said he was aware a year ago that a "bad actor" had been attempting to break into the state's elections system and he shared the information with federal officials. At the time, Pate said publicly that the state's election system had not been hacked. But it wasn't until last week that federal officials specifically confirmed that Russians were behind the hacking attempt, which is when Pate said he made that information public.

Doug Jacobson, director of Iowa State University's Information Assurance Center and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, said Tuesday he wasn't shocked to hear that Russians tried to hack into Iowa's election system. He suspects federal officials knew fairly quickly last year that Russians were involved, but they didn't make the information public until last week because of national security issues and a need to track down details of exactly what happened.

Jacobson believes Iowans shouldn't have a lot of concerns about computer hackers interfering with the state's elections process. The voting systems are not networked and scanners are used to check paper ballots, he said. Furthermore, even if someone managed to alter the election results, a fraudulent outcome could be overturned because Iowans' votes are backed up by paper ballots that can be recounted, he said.

"In Iowa, I think we have about as safe of a system as you are going to find and voting places are fairly well controlled," Jacobson added.

However, other state agencies in Iowa have been struck by hackers in the past, including at least three serious incidents in an 11-month span.

In January 2010, a hacker accessed a licensing database of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, exposing the personal information of 80,000 people. Investigators traced the incident to a cyber-criminal, possibly from China. The breach occurred because of a security lapse during maintenance on a firewall and improperly installed software patches on a server.

In March 2010, an overseas hacker gained access to a website operated by the Iowa Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The hacker used an "abstract, colorful" image to deface the website. Five related websites were also shut down, including one that advised the public about family and individual preparedness for emergencies.

In November 2010, a hacker breached a server used by the Iowa Department of Public Safety to issue Amber Alert bulletins involving child abduction cases. The hacker used the access to reissue an Amber Alert warning from earlier that year about a Council Bluffs teenager who was missing and later found safe. The bulletin was canceled five minutes later and there was no indication any search was launched to find the girl.