Representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday officially informed Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman that Russian hackers attempted to access Washington state election systems prior to the 2016 general election – and failed.
Wyman, the state’s chief elections officer, says the notice confirmed information her office previously shared with federal security officials last year.
“As we’ve stated before, we continue to work cooperatively with DHS – including during the election last year,” Wyman said in a Secretary of State Office news release. “The security protocols we already have in place made us aware of these attempted intrusions by Russian IP addresses throughout the course of the 2016 election. There was no successful intrusion and we immediately alerted the FBI of the activities.
“Today’s calls from DHS to all 50 states and six U.S. territories confirm what we already knew…that despite the ongoing attempts to compromise American election systems, my office is doing everything we can, utilizing the latest software, best practices and security measures, to keep Washington’s elections safe, reliable and accessible to our citizens.”
More details about the state’s election system security measures can be found on the Secretary of State’s website.
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