DeSantis: Two counties hacked Governor says Russians infiltrated state election datatbases in 2016, but no results were altered
“Two Florida counties experienced intrusion into the supervisor of election networks,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday.
TALLAHASSEE – Russian hackers infiltrated the election databases of two Florida counties during the 2016 election, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday, though he was quick to add that no votes were manipulated or results altered.
“Two Florida counties experienced intrusion into the supervisor of election networks,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “There was no manipulation or anything, but there was voter data that was able to be got. Now, that voter data was public anyways, [but] nevertheless those were intrusions. It did not affect any voting or anything like that.”
The information was part of a briefing that DeSantis and state election and law enforcement officials received from the FBI at the bureau’s offices in Tallahassee last week. DeSantis requested the meeting after expressing frustration when the redacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election came out in April, showing the FBI believed “at least one” Florida county had been successfully hacked.
But because of a non-disclosure form he signed with the FBI, DeSantis said he couldn’t say which counties were the ones involved.
“I would be willing to name it for you guys, but they asked me to do that so I’m going to respect their wishes,” DeSantis said.
Although the hackers didn’t have access to vote-counting systems, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said after the Mueller report was made public that they were in a position to manipulate voter registration data. DeSantis said the FBI told him that didn’t occur.
Hackers sent spearphishing emails to more than 120 email addresses at local elections offices
around the to the FBI.
One sent to Volusia County officials was disguised as an email from VR Systems, a Tallahasseebased vendor that handled registration software for 52 counties. But Volusia officials have said they did not open the attachments in the email or click links that would have allowed the hackers access to their computers.
When asked if the hacking was related to a vendor, DeSantis said he had to be careful with what he could say, but noted that “the reason why those counties got affected was not necessarily the counties but it was because of a private vendor they were using.”
Of the 67 counties asked via a South Florida Sun Sentinel records request whether they received the counterfeit VR Systems email, 11 acknowledged they had received it, 46 replied state, according they had no record of receiving it — though it still could have been blocked from their inboxes due to spam filters — and another 10 have not yet responded to the request made April 24.
Broward elections supervisor Peter Antonacci again insisted Tuesday his county wasn’t among the two accessed.
“There was no breach of the Broward Supervisor of Elections of any if its systems in 2015 or 2016,” he said.
The briefing appeared to do little to shed light on what state officials knew regarding the hacking and when they knew it.
The FBI held a briefing with all 67 supervisors of elections in September 2016 to warn about Russian hacking attempts. It’s still unclear how much local officials were told.