Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered a state-wide review of the security of Florida’s election systems. The state’s Department of State will “immediately” initiate a review of Florida’s 67 counties election systems:
The Department shall develop a plan to identify and address any vulnerabilities. You are further directed to make this a top priority of the Department, and report your findings to the Executive Office of the Governor upon completion of your review.Public faith in our elections is the bedrock of our democracy and we must do everything within our power to preserve the integrity of our elections systems. This administration will continue to prioritize the security of our elections and the protection of voter information.
This order comes after the governor told the public that Russian hackers hacked into two Florida counties voter databases. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security briefed DeSantis and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement last week.
DeSantis said that even though the databases were breached, no voting data was changed and the outcome of the election was not altered. database was compromised through a spear-phishing scheme, which was the same way that Russian hackers were able to get John Podesta‘s emails that were leaked during the 2016 presidential election. Spear-phising emails are designed to look like they are from someone the receiver normally interests with. The email contains a link that if it is clicked on, will allow the hacker into the person’s computer and network.
The Florida attack became public in the aftermath of a New York Times report that 120 Florida election officials were sent similar spear-phishing emails.
Last month, FBI director Christopher Wray told the Council on Foreign Relations that he believes, “our adversaries are going to keep adapting and upping their game,” and that these hacks were “more of a dress rehearsal for the big show in 2020.”
[screengrab via Fox Business]