Page 3 - aruba-today-20180823

A3
U.S. NEWS Thursday 23 augusT 2018
HACK THWARTED doubt on U.S. intelligence scrambling to secure their
Continued from Front officials' findings that Russia election systems since it
The file contains information was involved. was revealed that Russian
on tens of millions of voters. At a previously scheduled hackers targeted election
The attempt was quickly election security briefing systems in at least 21 states
thwarted by suspending Wednesday, Homeland in 2016, though the number
the attacker's account, Security Secretary Kirstjen is likely greater. There has
and no information was Nielsen said the quick been no indication any
compromised, the official response to the attempted vote tallies were changed.
said. The FBI was notified. DNC hack showed that In Tuesday's incident, a
The official wasn't the system was working scanning tool deployed
authorized to speak "and that different entities by the San Francisco
about sensitive security understand who to reach security company Lookout
information and spoke to out to," she said. detected a masquerading
The Associated Press on "Any attack on a political website designed to
condition of anonymity. party or a campaign harvest the passwords of
Government and tech is important for us all users of the login page of
officials say it's too early to to take seriously," she NGP VAN, a technology
know who was behind the said, emphasizing the provider used by the
attempt. The FBI declined government was doing Democrats and other
to comment to the AP. all it could to help protect liberal-leaning political
The hacking attempt comes election systems ahead of organizations, said Mike
as Democrats gather for the midterm elections. At Murray, the company's
their summer meeting. The stake is control of Congress, vice president of security A worker is surrounded by computer monitors in the Department
party's cybersecurity has which could potentially intelligence. of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity and Communi-
cations Integration Center (NCCIC) in Arlington, Va., Wednes-
been an issue since the switch from Republican to The tool, which leverages day, Aug. 22, 2018.
2016 presidential election, Democrat. artificial intelligence, has Associated Press
when Russian hackers Amid the news, a Senate been in development for a
compromised DNC servers committee abruptly year and wasn't tasked to been populated with a juicy target for anyone
and publicly revealed postponed a Wednesday scan any sites in particular content. "As soon as we trying to exacerbate
internal communications vote on legislation to but instead to identify realized how fast it was political divisions in the U.S.
that exploited divisions help states prevent phishing sites based on developing, I decided to or gain insight on political
between Bernie Sanders' against election hacking, typical attributes, Murray reach out to contacts that opponents.
and Hillary Clinton's frustrating Democrats and said. I know at the DNC." Murray "The data housed in these
campaigns as the two at least one Republican on "This is the beauty of AI: It also contacted the website types of databases would
candidates vied for the the panel. finds things that humans hosting company, Digital be incredibly useful both
Democratic presidential The vote was put off by don't know to look for," he Ocean. for domestic opposition
nomination. Hackers the Senate Rules and said. Ross Rustici, senior director research as well as for
also accessed the email Administration Committee He said the tool notified for intelligence services foreign intelligence and
accounts of Clinton's after a bipartisan group of Lookout before the at Cybereason in Boston, c o u n t e r i n t e l l i g e n c e
campaign chairman, lawmakers spent months impostor page had even said a voter database is purposes," he said.q
John Podesta, and negotiating the legislation.
systematically released the The bill would aim to protect
contents throughout the state election infrastructure
fall campaign. by requiring that all states
It also comes a day after use backup paper ballots
Microsoft announced it and conduct audits after
had uncovered similarly elections, among other
fraudulent websites measures. It would also
created by Kremlin require DHS to immediately
agents that spoofed two notify states if the federal
conservative outfits that are government is aware that
foes of Russia's president, a state election system has
Vladimir Putin, presumably been breached.
to trick unwitting visitors into A Senate Republican
surrendering credentials. aide said the vote was
Bob Lord, the DNC's chief postponed because
security officer, said the secretaries of state had
attempt showed how complained about certain
serious the cyberthreat is provisions, including the
and why it's critical that type of audits the bill
state and federal officials would require. The aide
work together on security. said additional Republican
"This attempt is further proof support would be necessary
that there are constant to move the legislation out
threats as we head into of committee. The aide was
midterm elections and we not authorized to speak
must remain vigilant in order about the committee's
to prevent future attacks," reasoning and spoke on
Lord said in a statement. condition of anonymity.
He said President Donald The breach wasn't
Trump isn't doing enough mentioned at a Senate
to protect American hearing on election security
democracy. Previously, Wednesday, according to
Trump mocked the DNC's senators who were present.
cybersecurity and cast States have been