UH OH !!! --- Georgia’s Secretary of State says there’s evidence of HACKING of his state’s election computers

Georgia officially notified Homeland Security about the unauthorized attempted breach of its elections computer systems  ---  Homeland Security says it will investigate and then respond to the inquiry directly to the State of Georgia

HERE’S THE RUB:  ---  the Georgia Attorney General says the post-election attempted hack of his state’s election computers looks like  >>>  IT WAS DONE BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY  <<< 

Georgia now wants confirmation and an explanation about the apparent unauthorized intrusion into its computer systems by the Federal Agency

 

According to a recent report that appears in Newsmax,   “The state of Georgia on Thursday accused the U.S. Homeland Security Department of apparently trying to hack its election systems….  In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp said a computer traced back to the federal agency in Washington tried unsuccessfully to penetrate the state office's firewall one week after the presidential election. The letter speculated that what it described as "a large unblocked scan event" might have been a security test….  It sought details, including whether the agency did in fact conduct the unauthorized scan, who authorized it and whether other states might have been similarly probed. Kemp cited the federal law against knowingly accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access, which is a felony….”  (See  “Georgia Accuses US of Trying to Hack Its Election Systems”  from AP feed, 12/8/16,  Newmax/Home/ Newsfront   [http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Election-Hacking/2016/12/08/id/763017/]).


The Newsmax article went on to quote the Georgia Secretary of State as follows:   “….   ‘At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network,’ Kemp wrote. ‘Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.’…   Kemp said this was ‘especially odd and concerning’ given that he is a member of the U.S. Election Infrastructure Cybersecurity Working Group run by the federal agency….”


Newsmax printed this response from Homeland Security:   “….  Homeland Security spokesman Scott McConnell said the department got Kemp's letter and is ‘looking into the matter.’…’DHS takes the trust of our public and private sector partners seriously, and we will respond to Secretary Kemp directly,’ McConnell said….”

GEORGIA ONE OF TWO STATES THAT DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN U.S. DEPARTMANT OF HOMELAND SECURITY’S PRE-ELECTION ANTI-HACKING PROGRAM AND TESTS

The Newsmax piece also noted that forty-eight states accepted offers from the Homeland Security Department to scan their networks AHEAD of the presidential elections. Reportedly those scans searched for vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers. The U.S. agency also described how states could patch their networks to make it more difficult for hackers to penetrate them.   Interestingly, Georgia was one of the two states that DID NOT ACCEPT the pre-election offer from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.