CYBERATTACK IN FLORIDA DURING PRIMARY ELECTIONS A RECORDED FIRST IN ELECTION HISTORY

A few months after the primary election in the U.S., a hacking experts asserts that for the first time in American history, there is evidence of an attempt at hacking the online election system at the time of the primary elections. 

The attack was seeking to secure an undetermined number of absentee ballots.  Absentee ballots are coveted election items, because they are counted before the election and can give a signal or even steer the election in one direction or another. 

The case reported was an attempt to steal as many as 2,500 requests for absentee ballot for non-existent voters in the county of Miami-Dade in Florida, one of the battleground states and its most populous county.

Most of the fake requests came from an IP address in Ireland, England and even India, and other undisclosed locations.  Fortunately a software program was in place that detected the attack and the workers manning the system refused the requests.  

Some people are advocating that such critical voter databases not be accessible online.  This kind of attack, they contend, is a harbinger of the chaos a more vigorous attack could wreak on the election process. 

The attack however was made by professionals.  The perpetrators used proxy servers that make their activity untraceable, and the investigating authorities were unable to identify the operators. In fact, the case has been closed since January for lack of sufficient evidence to prosecute.  

However, a local Miami newspaper, The Herald, revealed in an article that three of the IP addresses used in the attack were identified, and that the information relative to their identity had been delayed enough that there was no prosecution of the case.  The authorities have now re-opened the case to see if these three IP addresses can be identified after all.  

The elected democrat in one of the districts that was subject to the attack has said that his office had not been informed of the investigation.  

An expert in cyber attacks contends that if the attack had occurred in Maryland or Washington states, it might have been successful, because their software is not as sophisticated.  He has already shown the FBI how a simple method can change voter's addresses by guessing its car license plate.

Source: NBC 3.18.13