US officials fear ransomware attack against 2020 election

From itnews.com.au

US officials fear ransomware attack against 2020 election

Set to begin protecting voter registration databases, systems.

The US government plans to launch a program in roughly one month that narrowly focuses on protecting voter registration databases and systems ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

These systems, which are widely used to validate the eligibility of voters before they cast ballots, were compromised in 2016 by Russian hackers seeking to collect information.

Intelligence officials are concerned that foreign hackers in 2020 will not only target the databases but attempt to manipulate, disrupt or destroy the data, according to current and former US officials.

“We assess these systems as high risk,” said a senior US official, because they are one of the few pieces of election technology regularly connected to the Internet.

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