upset about whether U.S. elections are vulnerable to outdoor interference ? On Wednesday , tech giant Facebook , Twitter and Google testified that their platforms were used tospread Russian misinformation and propagandato million of likely voters in 2016 . But here ’s a case that illustrate how the struggling technical systems that run elections on a local level could be just as much of a headache in the futurity as well .
In July , a causa alleged that computer system in Georgia containing the personal selective information of 6.7 million elector as well as election officials ’ parole were riddled with security vulnerabilities — and that authority responsible for the database break to fix them within six months of being apprise . Three twenty-four hour period afterward , Georgia officials conveniently wiped the state ’s election data , potentially preventing any investigation whether the server was indeed meddle with . AsSlate noted , the incident could only be excuse as either an “ incredible routine of incompetency ” or a deliberate endeavour to treat up the outlet at the same meter Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp , Georgia ’s top election functionary , run for governor .
Another singular development in the case on Wednesday : accord to theAssociated Press , the Georgia attorney general ’s office has declined to support Kemp in the suit . Instead , Kemp and other election officials will or else be defended by a individual firm , the AP publish .
Assistant state attorney superior general Cristina Correia allegedly apply attorneys involve conflicting selective information on whether the server was wiped before or after the cause was filed on July 3 :
The server ’s data was destroy July 7 by technicians at the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University , which play the state of matter ’s election organisation , Correia inform attorneys in the case in an Oct. 18 email . Twelve days earlier , she had informed the same group of attorney that the data point on the server was wipe on March 17 , the same sidereal day it was returned to the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University by the FBI after a investigation into the security department incident . No one at the state attorney full general ’s office has explained Correia ’s source for the apparently erroneous information on timing .
On July 2 , one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. before the suit was filed , Kempwrote an newspaper column in USA Todaycalling the allegations the host had protection holes “ misinformation from the media or disgruntled partizan ” and “ fake news . ” Per Slate , Kemp later blamed the destruction of information on the server on KSU faculty .
“ There is no scandal or vast conspiracy , ” Kemp ’s campaign publish in a argument to the AP . “ This is a tasteless nothingburger cooked up by liberal activists who know their suit is nothing myopic of stupefied . ”
irrespective of what ’s die on , one matter that ’s clean is that the alleged exposure of Georgia election system is not an anomaly . In general , the U.S. election system isnot very unattackable .
Reports earlier this twelvemonth suggested the FBI isinvestigating numerous instancesin which Russian hacker may have probed the security of elector registration , database and voting car system indozens of statesin the leadup to the 2016 election . There ’s no evidence anything was convert , but the worry is that anyone ( not just Russians ) could take reward ofnumerous protection holesin the vote process . States are also reportedlydoing a poor jobof investigating the incident or season their voting systems against future invasion .
[ AP / Slate ]
georgiaHackersHackingPoliticsTechnology
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