US officials are currently exploring the possibility of Russian hackers tampering with the forthcoming elections.
Individual States are also doing all they can to make sure that there are no cyberattacks from now up to the time of the elections.
There have been some attempts to hack the states of Arizona and Illinois. The hacks were believed to have been aimed at disrupting voter databases.
US officials announced that they would intensify their inquiry after investigations revealed that hackers might have been probing election system in other states as well. In all this, Russia has been seen as the main suspect just as it was with the DNC.
One of the areas where the attackers might have an easy time is with the voter registration or voter roll database, experts said. As things stand, voter information was not tampered with but there was still a possibility of attackers breaking into the system and deleting files.
In theory, the other way an attack would roll out would be by targeting and modifying software on which voting machines run to alter the names that are shown or the votes counted. But experts have stated that this attack would be particularly hard to execute.
There is more concern for states that are using touch screen voting machines since these leave no paper trails. The paperless states are five: Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana New Jersey and South Carolina.
There are nine other states that have some counties using touch screen systems. These include Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
It is believed that the hackers would not aim to change the outcome of the election and install a candidates of their choice. It is believed that they are only trying to disrupt the process to instill doubt in the public, to ilegitimize the election.
As at now, Obama’s administration has not given any statements to name the Russian government as the perpetrator of the attempted hacks.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, during an interview with Bloomberg, said his government had nothing to do with the DNC hack. He said Russia had never done anything of that nature.
The Department of Homeland Security has pledged to give support to the states and assist them in staving the cyber attacks.
There have been some general moves aimed at making the systems more secure like changing passwords. But one expert added that there was need to conduct some assessments to see if there were any networks breached.
