Agree.
Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system in the 2016 election far more widespread than has been publicly revealed -- including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.
Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided to Bloomberg News (see below) by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter.
Specifics, revealed today:
1. Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, potentially adding or deleting names. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database.
2. In Illinois, for example, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. In early July 2016, hackers had gained access to the state’s voter database, which contained information such as names, dates of birth, genders, driver’s licenses and partial Social Security numbers on 15 million people, half of whom were active voters. As many as 90,000 records were ultimately compromised.
3. Using evidence from the Illinois computer banks, federal agents were able to develop digital “signatures†-- among them, Internet Protocol addresses used by the attackers -- to spot the hackers' work. The signatures were then sent through Homeland Security to every state. 37 states reported finding traces of the hackers in various systems. In 2 others -- Florida and California -- those traces were found in systems run by a private contractor managing critical election systems.
4. One former senior U.S. official expressed concern that the Russians now have three years to build on their knowledge of U.S. voting systems before the next presidential election, and there is every reason to believe they will use what they have learned in future attacks. That was James Comey's point last week.
5. In many states, the extent of the Russian infiltration remains unclear. The federal government had no direct authority over state election systems, and some states offered limited cooperation.
Russia has invaded American democracy. Trump is doing everything he can to suppress this knowledge, and doing nothing to prevent Russia from being more successful in 2018, in direct violation of his constitutional responsibility to protect our democratic system of government.
If this isn't an impeachable offense, I don't know what is.
