Tag Archive for: Election

Conservatives call for more federal funding for election security

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From The Fulcrum:

“Leading computer science experts agree that hacking threats against US voting systems are growing and that increasingly out-of-date elections infrastructure make for relatively easy targets,” reads the letter, which was signed by leaders of Americans for Tax Reform, R Street Institute and FreedomWorks, among others.

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“Across the board, our federal government is far too expansive and expensive, but there are times where it has a role to play. Protecting our elections against foreign threats and providing funding for election security are two such cases,” said Matthew Gerner, a fellow in the governance program at R Street and a signatory on the letter.

“While there are some admirable provisions of the so-called For the People Act, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, they make the problem of an expansive and expensive federal government even worse,” he said. “The For the People Act and the Freedom to Vote Act infringe on free speech rights, and all three bills shift control over elections from state and local governments to Washington, DC. None of them are the right path for federal election legislation.”

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Ohio election security tested after attempted hack in Lake County

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – An attempt at hacking into one of Ohio’s 88 boards of elections failed.

Mahoning County Elections Board Director Tom McCabe said it’s because of the security measures put in place by the Secretary of State.

Last week, we learned a worker in Lake County plugged their own personal computer into the government system last spring in an apparent attempt to gain access to election information. McCabe said their systems are very secure.

“None of our voting equipment is connected to the internet. They’re not connected to any local network whatsoever. They are all independent standing machines and what we actually count the votes on here is an internal network,” McCabe said.

Both the Secretary of State and the FBI are now investigating the hacking attempt.

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Iranian hackers charged with cybercrimes in connection with attempts to influence 2020 US Presidential Election

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Jessica Haworth

19 November 2021 at 13:22 UTC

Updated: 19 November 2021 at 13:31 UTC

Pair were affiliated with group that tried to secure a win for Donald Trump

Iranian hackers charged with cybercrimes in connection with attempts to influence 2020 US Presidential Election

Two Iranian nationals have been charged in connection with a disinformation campaign intended to threaten the integrity of the 2020 US Presidential election.

A statement released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) yesterday (November 18) stated that the men were charged for their involvement in “a cyber-enabled campaign to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord”.

Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi (سید محمد حسین موسی کاظمی), also known as Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazem and Hosein Zamani, 24, and Sajjad Kashian (سجاد کاشیان), also known as Kiarash Nabavi, 27, are described as computer hackers who worked as contractors for an Iran-based company formerly known as Eeleyanet Gostar, and now known as Emennet Pasargad.

Eeleyanet Gostar purported to provide cybersecurity services within Iran with customers including the Iranian government, the statement alleges.

Accusations

The defendants are accused of obtaining confidential US voter information from at least one state election website; sending threatening email messages to intimidate and interfere with voters; and creating and disseminating a video containing disinformation about purported election infrastructure vulnerabilities.

The pair are also accused of attempting to access several US states’ voting-related websites, and successfully gaining unauthorized access to a US media company’s computer network that could have enabled them to disseminate false claims after the election.

US attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New Yorks commented: “Working with others, Kazemi and Kashian accessed voter information from at least one state’s voter database, threatened US voters via email, and even disseminated a fictitious video that purported to depict actors fabricating overseas ballots.”

BACKGROUND Spoiling the ballot: Cyber issues cast cloud over US presidential election

The…

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Iranian hackers, posing as Proud Boys, tried to disrupt 2020 election, feds say

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A pair of Iranian hackers ran a sophisticated online campaign aimed at interfering with last year’s presidential election by threatening and influencing American voters, federal officials said Thursday.

As part of their campaign, the conspirators got confidential U.S. voter information from at least one state election website and sent threatening email messages to intimidate people before they cast their ballots, prosecutors said.

The disinformation duo also created a video that detailed false voting vulnerabilities, and even gained unauthorized access to a U.S. media company’s computer network — but were stopped before they could do any further damage to it, authorities said.

Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi, 24, and Sajjad Kashian, 27, were both charged with conspiracy, voter intimidation and transmission of interstate threats. Kazemi was also charged with unauthorized computer intrusion, computer fraud and knowingly damaging a protected computer.

The accused hackers were equal opportunity disruptors. According to the indictment, hackers targeted Republicans with messages claiming voter fraud, and Democrats with “false flag” threats from the Proud Boys.

The fake Proud Boys sent Facebook messages and emails to Republican senators and members of the House, individuals associated with former President Donald Trump’s campaign, White House advisers and members of the media.

The false election messages claimed that the Democratic Party was planning to exploit “serious security vulnerabilities” in state voter registration websites to “edit mail-in ballots or even register nonexistent voters.”

Hackers also sent intimidating emails to tens of thousands of registered voters, threatening them with physical injury if they did not change their party affiliation and vote for Trump.

“The FBI remains committed to countering malicious cyber activity targeting our democratic process,” said Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division.

Even the day after the election, on Nov. 4, the suspects tried to use stolen credentials to gain access to a media company’s computer network to disseminate more false information, the indictment said. But the…

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