Kemp Accuses Democrats Of Hacking Attempt After They Raise Alarm About Voting System Vulnerabilities

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

The Georgia Secretary of State Office, run by Republican candidate for governor Brian Kemp, has launched an investigation into the Democratic Party of Georgia after an alleged attempt to hack the state’s voter registration system.

“While we cannot comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation, I can confirm that the Democratic Party of Georgia is under investigation for possible cyber crimes,” said Candice Broce, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office. “We can also confirm that no personal data was breached and our system remains secure.”

WhoWhatWhy reports:

Two days before the midterm elections, a series of security vulnerabilities have been discovered that would allow even a low-skilled hacker to compromise Georgia’s voter registration system and, in turn, the election itself. It is not known how long these vulnerabilities have been in place or whether they have already been exploited.

Just before noon on Saturday, a third party provided WhoWhatWhy with an email and document, sent from the Democratic Party of Georgia to election security experts, that highlights “massive” vulnerabilities within the state’s My Voter Page and its online voter registration system.

WhoWhatWhy contacted five computer security and election systems experts to review the document. None of these cyber security experts tested the vulnerabilities described, downloaded any files, or altered any data. All five noted that testing these vulnerabilities without permission would be illegal.

After reviewing the voting system’s code, the above-cited experts agreed that information could be easily accessed, changed, or deleted.