US says Iranian hackers sent emails to access voter data

Hackers obtained voter data in at least one state, security agencies said

From left, Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Harris, President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden on stage together, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

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Iranian hackers behind a wave of threatening emails sent to thousands of Americans earlier this month accessed voter data, US officials said.

The campaign – in which messages in the name of a pro-Trump far right group were sent to random voters – featured a video in which a hacker purported to demonstrate how they could cause havoc by breaking into voter registration records.

Experts who examined the footage said it amounted to little more than an attempt to scare voters about the integrity of the November 3 vote, but the question of whether the hackers succeeded was unanswered until now.

A statement issued on Friday by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed that “the actor successfully obtained voter registration data in at least one state”.

The state was not identified, although purported personal details of Alaska voters were briefly flashed on the video.

CISA and the FBI said the Iranian hackers scanned election sites for vulnerabilities.

CyberScoop, which first reported on the agencies’ findings, said 10 states in total were scanned.

US officials are on high alert for cyber interference in the upcoming election, which pits Republican President Donald Trump against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Russian hackers this year targeted the California and Indiana branches of the Democratic Party.