State Board of Elections thinks it was the unnamed victim of Russian hackers

Posted on July 13, 2018

*The Illinois Board of Elections is confident it was the unnamed state election board hit by Russian hackers, as alleged in Justice Department indictments.*
*(Facebook/Illinois State Board of Elections)*

By Howard Packowitz and Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – There appeared to be an Illinois connection to U.S. Department of Justice indictments announced Friday against 12 Russian hackers.

The Illinois Board of Elections believes it is the elections board cited in the indictment. While the charges didn’t specifically mention Illinois, they did allege one of the Russian intelligence officials “hacked the website of a state board of elections and stole information related to approximately 500,000 voters, including names, addresses, partial social security numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers.”

State elections board spokesman Matt Dietrich said that was very likely a reference to the 2016 breach of voter data in Illinois. However, he said federal officials have not contacted the state.

“We’re grateful that DOJ has identified who the perpetrators were,” said Dietrich.

He added the state board of elections will fully cooperate with the Justice Department in any further action.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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