Homeland Security clarifying state election hacking attempts

MADISON, Wis. — The Department of Homeland Security has notified two states that Russian hackers attempted to scan networks other than state election systems in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, contrary to details provided last week.

On Wednesday, California became the second state — after Wisconsin — to be notified of the revised intelligence.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla says in a statement that homeland security officials now say the “scanning” activity took place on the state technology department’s network and not on the Secretary of State website, as the state was told last week.

Homeland Security last week notified election officials in 21 states that their systems were targeted last year “by Russian government cyber actors seeking vulnerabilities and access to U.S. election infrastructure.” Most systems were not breached.

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