Russian firm tried to hack Ohio voting

Authored by journalgazette.net and submitted by Ouroboros000

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio detected and thwarted an election-related cyber attack this month, the state's elections chief said.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the “relatively unsophisticated” hacking attempt on Nov. 5, which was Election Day, originated in Panama but was traced to a Russian-owned company.

LaRose told the Columbus Dispatch on Tuesday that the would-be attackers were looking for vulnerabilities in his office's website.

“They are poking around for soft spots,” LaRose said.

LaRose said Ohio's election results are safe because neither the election machines nor the ballot counters the state uses are connected to the internet.

He said the attempted attack sought to insert malicious code into his office's website. It was detected by the state's Albert network security system, a sort of digital burglar alarm.

“The good guys won that day and the bad guys lost,” he said.

shenaniganns on December 1st, 2019 at 02:06 UTC »

It'd be great if they publicly outed the 'Russian-owned company'. My bet is on the RNC.

Localman1972 on December 1st, 2019 at 02:04 UTC »

Ohio is one state. There are 49 others, many of which are undoubtedly less secure.

oapster79 on December 1st, 2019 at 01:38 UTC »

They were unsuccessful this time. But they'll be back. There will be russians meddling. And probably Americans too.