Phishing expedition: At least 5 Florida counties targeted by Russian election hack

[HAB911]

TALLAHASSEE — Russian hackers tried to break into the computer systems of at least five Florida county elections offices days before the 2016 presidential election, according to five county officials who say they received malicious emails described in a leaked intelligence report.

Election supervisors in Hillsborough, Pasco, Citrus and Clay counties separately told the Times/Herald their offices got the emails, which contained attachments that could have taken over their computers. But all four said their staffers did not open them. Volusia County said it opened one of the infected emails, but not the attachment that could have compromised its systems.

There's been no evidence disclosed publicly that any counties were breached. It's not clear how many counties were targeted, in Florida or across the country. The Times/Herald sent requests for the emails to all 67 elections offices in the state. Nineteen replied back that they searched for them and couldn't find any.

The intelligence report, written by the National Security Agency, was published Monday by the Intercept, an online news outlet, and verified by other national media sources. It described two efforts by a Russian military intelligence unit, the G.R.U., to disrupt the presidential election.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/at-least-2-florida-counties-targeted-by-russian-hacking-attempt/2326339

[democratisphere]

1. We need to standardize voting machines to include mandatory paper backup ballots and

no connection to the internet, ever. High end Security Software must be installed and frequently updated offline.

[NightWatcher]

2. We need hard nosed retirees counting clearly marked paper ballots.

They then should post the numbers on a sheet on the front door of each precinct and call in the numbers to county Supervisor of Elections.

I think the Russians have shown us that we need to remove all computers from the vote.

[Dustlawyer]

10. +1!!! THIS

[John1956PA]

14. The Russians, and the recent leaker, have shown us that need.

If it were not for the recent leaker, there would have been no Florida newspaper investigation which has now revealed the specific malware hijacking attempt which is described in the leaked NSA document, and which (as the newspaper has discovered) was aimed at the voting machines in at least five Florida counties.

[Chasstev365]

3. THIS

The biggest mistake the Founding Father's made was letting individual states set voting requirements and standards.

Your voting machine idea is spot on!

[csziggy]

4. Just use paper ballots in the first place

For fast preliminary results they could be optically scanned - but the paper ballots should also be counted by hand BEFORE the results are certified. If it were known that the hand counted results were always going to be the official ones, there would be no point in hacking the scanners.

[Lee-Lee]

5. Voting machines already do not connect to the internet

That's why the idea of hacking them is very difficult to pull off.

I like the machines we use here in NC. Touch screen that are easy to uses even for the elderly, but they print a paper ballot as well.

That gives a fast initial result with a paper trail to check for irregularities. In the event of a close recount paper is available.

And then after the election the state picks certain races and precincts in every county at random and a full audit is done comparing the paper trail to the electronic results, and if there are discrepancies a wider paper count can be ordered before results are certified.

It's a good balance that eases manpower needs, gets fast results but allows a real paper trail and has a strong audit system to detect fraud or error.

[IronLionZion]

13. The tabulators are what are connected

because it all gets aggregated by congressional district and state.

[Blueplanet]

15. Exactly!

Check the tabulators.

[blueseas]

18. Yes we need this!

We need proof positive!

[angstlessk]

6. The latest...they got into voting machines..looked around...

only to see IF they could hack the vote...discovered they could...did nothing...waiting till 'next time'

DO YOU BELIEVE ANY OF THIS?

[sharedvalues]

7. +1000 Keep it in the news

[LenaBaby61]

8. At least 5 Florida counties targeted by Russian election hack.

Florida hasn't been 'right' for Dem voters since 2000, and Ohio--same thing since 2004 IMHO.

This whole GOP-lead voter-suppression situation ahead of 2018's mid- terms WILL be a nightmare. HOW we get Dem votes COUNTED properly/fairly in certain thuglican strongholds with ruskie 'assistance' is beyond me.

We know that THIS AG beauregard doesn't give one damn about Dems being voter-suppressed to DEATH, or about vulnerable voting apparatu in 2018 and that this installed SCROTUS is "owned" by putin, and that the puppet and the GOP are party 1st and country a distant second.

But, what is our course of action to get our votes counted accurately ahead of 2018?

[OhNo-Really]

16. Very enlightening article

This article explains a plethora of potential voting machine problems. That there are so many problems seems proof positive to stop using them imo

http://blackboxvoting.org/about-recounts/

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Obviously, they should investigate and check the email archives for all the Democratic leaning

counties.

After that, and only after that, check Seminole County since that's the county where stealing elections by hacking the vote was first discussed.

[GusBob]

12. I knew Volusia County would be on the list. Any I-4 corridor county

Swing districts in a swing state

[LaydeeBug]

11. THANK YOU!!! knr

[NCTraveler]

17. Florida GOPer Helped Russian Hacker Disseminate Dems' Voter Turnout Data

A Republican political operative in Florida asked the alleged Russian hacker who broke into Democratic Party organizations’ servers at the height of the 2016 campaign to pass him stolen documents, according to a report Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.

In return, that operative received valuable Democratic voter-turnout analyses, which the newspaper found at least one GOP campaign used to its advantage. The hacker went on to flag that same data to Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of Donald Trump’s who briefly advised his presidential campaign, and who is currently under federal investigation for potential collusion with Russia.

The Wall Street Journal’s report presents the clearest allegations to date of collusion between people connected to Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Cybersecurity experts were sounding the alarm as early as last July that Guccifer 2.0, which had tapped into both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Campaign Committee, was connected to the Russian military intelligence apparatus. However, in September, Florida GOP consultant Aaron Nevins wrote to Guccifer 2.0 to tell the hacker to “feel free to send any Florida based information,” according to the Journal.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/florida-goper-helped-russian-hacker-disseminate-dems-voter-turnout-data/ar-BBBwSav

Amazing what we actually know. It's so sad that we are looking for a smoking gun when we already have dozens of smoking guns.