According to a Bloomberg report published on Tuesday, Russian hackers may have made it into voting systems and voter databases in as many as 39 states.
Recent reports that Russian hackers made their way into voting software providers’ systems was certainly shocking but may have been a fraction of the effort’s full reach.
According to a Bloomberg report published on Tuesday, the attackers may have made it into voting systems and voter databases in as many as 39 states.
Bloomberg notes, “The scope and sophistication so concerned Obama administration officials that they took an unprecedented step -- complaining directly to Moscow over a modern-day 'red phone.' In October, two of the people said, the White House contacted the Kremlin…to warn that the attacks risked setting off a broader conflict.”
It does not appear that any information was compromised or any votes were ultimately affected, but it remains unclear if that was a result of the administration's warning or a lack of sufficient access on the part of the hackers, notes The Verge.
The attempts were reportedly brought to the attention of U.S. officials last summer. A contractor working with the board of elections in Illinois reported that roughly 90,000 voter records had been accessed and it appeared attempts had been made to delete or adjust that data.
According to Vanity Fair, "The government began a probe that ultimately concluded that four out of every five U.S. states’ voting systems had been hacked, though it’s not clear that the hacking had an effect on the outcome of the election."
One official indicated there is great concern over Russia using what it learned in 2016 election meddling to refine its approach for 2020, reports Bloomberg.
