FBI warned of foreign attacks on US election websites

Yahoo News has received a warning from the FBI warning of foreign attacks on election websites. Sources would indicate that the message refers to hacks into election databases in the states of Arizona and Illinois.

The FBI’s warning was issued on August 18, but it was only intended for those directly dependent on the information. The message therefore has a ‘need to know’ indication. In the document, the government agency says that unknown persons penetrated the website of the election commission by means of an SQL attack at the end of June. Yahoo News has been able to determine through conversations with sources that these were the election databases of Arizona and Illinois. In the latter state, unknowns have managed to loot data from 200,000 voters.

The warning shows that the attackers used different IP addresses. Out of a total of eight IP addresses, one occurred in both incidents, so they may be related. Rich Barger, CIO of security firm ThreatConnect, also tells Yahoo News that one of the addresses “appeared previously on a Russian forum for cybercriminals.” The combination of tools used, including Acutenix and DirBuster, would also have previously been used in other Russian internet attacks.

The FBI did not respond to additional questions from Yahoo News. However, the agency confirmed to an employee of the Illinois Election Commission that the attackers were foreign, without naming a country. The agency is investigating a possible link to the hack on the DNC. However, no conclusions have yet been drawn, which means that it is possible that these are internet criminals who are after personal data. In 2015, data from 191 million American voters was previously leaked due to a configuration error.