“Clear That DHS Was Wrong”: California Says Russians Did Not Hack Voting Systems
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sep 28, 2017
Last Friday the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dropped a “bombshell” statement that sent a “thrill up the leg” (to quote Chris Matthews) of every CNN reporter across the country. The news from DHS implied that the election systems of 21 states around the country had been hacked, or at least were close to being hacked, which set off a new wave “Russian collusion” speculation in the U.S. news media (see: DHS Notifies 21 States Of Hacker Targeting; Election Officials Blame “Russian Government Cyber Actors”).
That said, according to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla who released a statement this morning in response to the DHS, the whole thing was just a bunch of “fake news.” Padilla noted that after requesting additional information from DHS on the “hacks” it quickly became clear that their “conclusions were wrong” and that “California’s elections infrastructure and websites were not hacked or breached by Russian cyber actors.”
“Last Friday, my office was notified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that Russian cyber actors ‘scanned’ California’s Internet-facing systems in 2016, including Secretary of State websites. Following our request for further information, it became clear that DHS’ conclusions were wrong.”
“DHS confirmed that Russian scanning activity had actually occurred on the California Department of Technology statewide network, not any Secretary of State website. Based on this additional information, California voters can further rest assured that the California Secretary of State elections infrastructure and websites were not hacked or breached by Russian cyber actors.”
“Our notification from DHS last Friday was not only a year late, it also turned out to be bad information. To make matters worse, the Associated Press similarly reported that DHS has reversed itself and ‘now says Russia didn’t target Wisconsin’s voter registration system,’ which is contrary to previous briefings.”
The Rest…HERE
