Recorded Future is a security firm which recently discovered something disturbing while monitoring underground electronic markets where hackers sell their wares: The log-on credentials for access to computers at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the federal agency which verifies voting machines meet strict security standards.
Following the lead they had found, researchers from Recorded Future eventually tracked the source of the log-ins being offered to a Russian-speaking hacker who was offering for sale the credentials of more than 100 people at the election commission.
So now it would seem that not only were Russian forces at work in leaking information stolen from the DNC to Wikileaks, but hackers from Russia also managed to breach the very agency that verifies the machines we use to cast our ballots are safe and secure.
The Election Assistance Commission said in a statement late Thursday that it recently became aware of a “potential intrusion” and would be “working with federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the potential breach and its effects.”
In that same statement, the EAC added:
“The FBI is currently conducting an ongoing criminal investigation.”
Andrei Barysevich of Recorded Future said the Russian he communicated with online admitted he scanned for ways to break into businesses or government agencies and then tried to sell that access, rather than bothering to acquire the data himself. Barysevich added:
“We don’t think he actually works for any government or is super sophisticated.”
Had someone bought the information being offered for sale, what might they have been able to do with it? Matt Blaze, an electronic voting expert and professor at the University of Pennsylvania said such information could have been applied to attack specific voting machines in key precincts of battleground states such as Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, all of which saw Donald Trump perform better than expected and were integral in his surprise electoral upset over Hillary Clinton.
Is there any remaining doubt that we need to invalidate the November 8 election and hold another one using paper ballots only?
Featured Image Via CNBC
