Russia's cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump's election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.
In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said.
[...] The new details, buttressed by a classified National Security Agency document recently disclosed by The Intercept, show the scope of alleged hacking that federal investigators are scrutinizing as they look into whether Trump campaign officials may have colluded in the efforts. But they also paint a worrisome picture for future elections: The newest portrayal of potentially deep vulnerabilities in the U.S.'s patchwork of voting technologies comes less than a week after former FBI Director James Comey warned Congress that Moscow isn't done meddling.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 16 2017, @03:33PM
> ...the foreign thumb happened to be pressing down on their side's scale
Reminds me of the first time I watched a NASCAR team put a car through the scales at tech inspection, mid-1980s. I was there as an engineering observer, these days you might say I was "embedded" with the team for the weekend. Experiments in practice with different amounts of ballast showed (not surprisingly) that the car was best when about 35 pounds under the minimum legal weight (about 1%).
I walked along with the crew when the car was pushed onto the old-style platform mechanical scale. Amazingly it came in a few pounds over the minimum. Only later was it explained to me: several crew members got the attention of the scale crew for a second, while another crew member stuck a penny under the scale balance mechanism with chewing gum. And then repeated to take the penny/gum off, no point in giving the weight advantage to the cars after us. I was right there, but never saw a thing...just like a good pickpocket that you only discover long after the deed is done.
It might have been interesting to take a look at the bottom of that scale mechanism to see how many chewing gum marks were under there!