An early voting location in Madison. (Photo: Andrew Beckett)
The Wisconsin Elections Commission will continue to review its security procedures, while members are set to get an update this morning on an unsuccessful 2016 hacking attempt by “Russian government cyber actors.”
The Department of Homeland Security notified the agency last week that the state’s voter registration system was the target of hackers last year, who commission spokesman Reid Magney says did a “scan” of the system for weaknesses. “It’s kind of like driving by and looking at a fortress,” he says. “The walls are 30 feet high, the walls are 10 feet thick…we can’t get through that.”
The Commission was already set to get an updated on security planning at today’s meeting, and an update on the attempted hack has been added to the agenda. Magney says it’s part of an ongoing process to make sure the state is doing all that it can to ensure Wisconsin’s voter information is safe and secure. “What are the best practices? What do we need to do to make absolutely sure Wisconsin’s election systems are safe?”
Possible new steps being considered included encrypting voter information and creating a two-step verification process for clerks trying to log into the system.
Wisconsin was one of 21 states the Department of Homeland Security says was targeted by hacking attempts.