Multiple States Confirm Cyberattacks Linked to DHS IP Address

dhs hacked election

Last month we learned of a massive cyberattack on Georgia’s election agency linked to a Department of Homeland Security IP address.

Well, according to a report from WSB-TV in Atlanta, two more states, West Virginia and Kentucky, confirmed that the same IP address accessed their election system close to Election Day:

Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brian Kemp has confirmed 10 separate cyberattacks on his state’s network over the past 10 months that were traced back to DHS addresses.

From WSB-TV:

“We’re being told something that they think they have it figured out, yet nobody’s really showed us how this happened,” Kemp said. “We need to know.” He says the new information from the two other states presents even more reason to be concerned. “So now this just raises more questions that haven’t been answered about this and continues to raise the alarms and concern that I have,” Kemp said.

Through an open-records request, Diamant acquired the results of a survey Kemp asked the National Association of Secretaries of State to send to its members. West Virginia wrote back, “This IP address did access our election night results on November 7, 2016.” Kentucky responded the same IP address “did touch the KY (online voter registration) system on one occasion, 11/1/16.”

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson told the Georgia Secretary of State that the DHS accessing Georgia’s election system was a federal contractor conducting supposedly “normal” internet searches on the website.

Kemp has pushed back on the DHS excuse saying “We haven’t been able to recreate this the way they explained it to us.”

Kemp pointed out that DHS has failed to explain the cause of the nine other network scans tied to DHS IP addresses over the last year and close to important election dates:

Kemp’s call for answers is amplified now by the National Association of Secretaries of State, or NASS. “We have one administration leaving town and another coming in so it does remain to be seen just who will be left holding the bag if we don’t get a great explanation on what has occurred very soon,” said Kay Stimpson, with NASS.

Unsatisfied with the response he got from Johnson, Kemp fired off a letter Wednesday to loop in President-elect Donald Trump. He is still awaiting a response. “We just need to ask the new administration to take a look at this and make sure that we get the truth the people of Georgia are deserving to know that and really demanding it,” Kemp said. In an emailed statement the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office told us it believes the IP address that sparked all this did not attack its system.

As of right now it is unknown why DHS accessed three different states’ election websites multiple times throughout the course of the year. While no evidence has surfaced that DHS altered any election results, the incidents should raise some serious concerns across the country.

Do you believe the DHS’ claim that they were just conducting “normal” searches on various election websites or is something fishy going on? Share your thoughts below!

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