2 States in the U.S said that DHS was wrong regarding U.S Election Hacking

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The DHS (Department of Homeland Security) finally announced a few days ago which states were affected by Russian hacking attempts in the U.S presidential election 2016. But Reuters reported that at least 2 states have indicated that the statement of DHS was wrong and their election systems weren’t targeted by Russian hacking. Wisconsin and California were among 21 states pointed by the DHS, but after requesting additional details from the agency. The DHS informed the officials of California that initial report mentioned; basically, it was the Department of Technology of the State that had been targeted but not said by the websites of the U.S Secretary of State. Wisconsin also announced DHS information that it was the Department of Workforce Development of the State, but not its election commission that had been targeted by Russian hackers.

A spokesperson of DHS informed Reuters that the initial reports of the 21 states were actually based on a variety of sources, including scanning detected from malicious IP addresses and U.S intelligence information and those weren’t publically disclosed. The U.S government had forwarded additional information and clarifications to a number of states. He also said that the DHS stands by its assessment that internet-connected networks in 21 states were allegedly targeted by the hackers backed by the Russian government cyber actors looking access to the infrastructure of the U.S election. The DHS has maintained that any vote wasn’t altered in most cases and hacking activity was insignificant, and some states coped a little worse than others. DHS indicated that hackers stole 90 thousand Illinois voting records and IP addresses of its Board of Elections were hit with 5 hacking attempts per second a day before the election.