Some Emailed Absentee Ballot Applications May not be Processed: Cyber Attack
A hacker assault on the personal computer method of an upstate New York county sparked alarm that some emailed absentee ballot programs could not be accepted, but the Point out Board of Elections said that whole voting would not be impacted.
On Oct. 18, the cyber assault encrypted about 200 Chenango County-operated desktops and hackers sought a $450 ransom for each computer to decrypt the files, Herman Ericksen, the county’s facts protection officer, stated Monday. “He extra,” We are not paying the ransom.
A public statement was issued final 7 days by the county election board urging any individual who had submitted an absentee ballot application by electronic mail considering the fact that Oct. 15 to get in touch with the board to check that it experienced been despatched. The assertion claimed that the cyber assault will not otherwise impact polling for the reason that “the board has redundancies in position that will allow the general election to be securely and competently conducted.”
“This wasn’t an assault on the voting procedure,” reported John Conklin, spokesman for the Point out Board of Elections.
To delete the ransomware, Erickson mentioned contaminated equipment are currently being wiped clear and all software package is staying reinstalled. For some days, the county’s e-mail technique was down but is back again in company, he additional.
Condition Cops and the U.S. Erickson reported that the Department of Homeland Security is investigating the attack, which appears to have happened in Hong Kong.
Chenango County is portion of central New York ‘s 22nd Congressional District, wherever Republican Claudia Tenney is in a close combat to retake her U.S. seat. Rep. Anthony Brindisi, a Democrat who defeated her two yrs back by significantly less than 4,500 votes.
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