US Security Official: Russian Hackers Targeted Election Systems in 21 States

A US Department of Homeland Security official told Congress on Wednesday, June 21, that Russian hackers targeted 21 election systems in various states during last year's presidential election. According to Reuters, Janet Manfra, the deputy cybersecurity chief of the department, stated that there is no evidence that these hackers manipulated votes. Addressing the Senate Intelligence Committee, Ms. Manfra said, "So far, we have evidence that shows election systems were targeted in 21 states, and in a smaller number of states, there was actual infiltration of the systems." The Senate Intelligence Committee is currently investigating the possibility of Russian interference in the 2016 US election results. Ms. Manfra refrained from naming the states that were targeted, which drew criticism from Mark Warner, the leading Democrat on the Senate panel. US intelligence agencies claim that the Kremlin organized a wide-ranging operation aimed at helping Donald Trump win last year's presidential election, utilizing email hacking and online advertising. Janet Manfra and several other US officials reiterated that because the electoral system in the US is decentralized and primarily managed at local and state levels, its vulnerability to infiltration is high. Russia has repeatedly denied any responsibility related to potential cyberattacks during last year's presidential election. Donald Trump has stated that Russia may or may not have been responsible for hacking US election systems. He also dismissed allegations that he or his associates colluded with Russia regarding the election or other matters, labeling them as "fake news." Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told Congress on Wednesday that there was a delay between when the FBI contacted the Democratic National Committee about "Russian server hacking" and when he became aware of it at his department. Mr. Johnson did not provide further details about this delay but mentioned that his department issued warnings about system hacks at that time; however, these warnings did not receive sufficient attention due to the release of a controversial video featuring Donald Trump's "lewd" comments about women. In related news, warnings have been issued about "new cyber weapons from Russian hackers" aimed at disrupting global power transmission networks, and Russian officials denied reports of hacking Qatar's news agency.