In August 2016, Maryland officials notices hackers were trying to get to voter information, that set off a flurry of legislator and regulator activity. Here’s where they ended up almost a year later:
- legislators didn’t find out until it was in the news which ruffled feathers. suprise!
- Within 3 days of noticing the hacking attempt, state’s computer staff blocked the IP address from multiple parts of the network
- The Maryland elections administrator notified the Governor’s cabinet
- 2 weeks later, Maryland officials alerted the FBI
- The FBI then notified Department of Homeland Security
- In September, Maryland’s elections administrator learned DHS had tools to help states at a conference, which she requested and began 1 month later
- DHS conducts remote weekly “cyber hygiene scans” of Maryland’s systems
- Maryland hired outside contractors to protect and monitor their election systems
- Maryland’s voter-registration database is not connected to the internet
- Maryland’s legislators are still gearing up to act
Wall Street Journal | How Maryland Contended With Attempted Hack Of Its Voter-Registration System