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DHS: Indiana voter registration systems not targeted by Russian hackers during 2016 election

Posted at 5:29 PM, Sep 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-22 17:49:58-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Secretary of State’s Office says Indiana was not one of 21 states targeted by Russian hacking attempts during the 2016 election.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified officials in all 50 states Friday as to whether or not their voter registration systems were targeted by Russian hackers.

As of Friday afternoon, officials from at least Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Washington and Wisconsin reported they had been notified of hacking attempts, according to the Associated Press.

Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Michael Haas told RTV6’s sister station WTMJ that Russian hackers had scanned the state’s systems, but that there was no breach and no data had been compromised.

Indiana got better news, with DHS reporting it had not detected any Russian attempts to hack into the state’s voter registration systems, according to Valerie Warycha, deputy chief of staff for Secretary of State Connie Lawson.

The Washington Post reported in June that a voting software supplier with contracts in several states, including Indiana, had been hacked by Russian intelligence.

The company, VR Systems, provided electronic poll books for six Indiana counties. Officials said the company did not provide voting machines or machines or software that tabulate votes.

Questions over Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election were renewed this week after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would hand over 3,000 ads purchased by Russian accounts during the campaign to investigators.

So far, there have been no reports of any direct manipulation of vote results by Russian hackers.

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