INSIDE THE FALSE CLAIMS OF HACKING

GBI files show activity was approved Homeland Security scans but also say state’s website where voters can check info did have major vulnerability.

It was a stunning accusation: Two days before the 2018 election for Georgia governor, Republican Brian Kemp used his power as secretary of state to open an investigation into what he called a “failed hacking attempt” of voter registration systems involving the Democratic Party.

But newly released case files from the GBI reveal there was no such hacking attempt.

The evidence from the closed investigation indicates Kemp’s office mistook planned security tests and a warning about potential election security holes for malicious hacking.

Kemp then wrongly accused his political opponents just before Election Day — a high-profile salvo that drew national media attention in one of the most closely watched races of 2018.

“The investigation by the GBI revealed no evidence of damage to (the secretary of state’s office’s) network or computers, and no evidence of theft, damage, or loss of data,” according to a March 2 memo from a senior assistant attorney general recommending that the case be closed.

The internet activity that Kemp’s staff described as hacking attempts was actually scans by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the secretary of state’s office had agreed to, according to the GBI. Kemp’s chief information officer signed off on the DHS scans three months beforehand.

Although there was no malicious hack, the GBI files also report that the state’s website where voters can check their information did have a significant vulnerability — a flaw Kemp’s staff still won’t acknowledge a year and a half later.

Candice Broce, Kemp’s spokeswoman, continued to insist last

month that elec tions officials responded to a “failed cyber intru

ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM Brian Kemp’s hacking claims came just two days before his close 2018 election for governor against Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams. It remains unclear how Kemp’s staff concluded that the Democratic Party was responsible for a hacking attempt.