Hackers penetrate Illinois voter registration database

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Board of Elections’ online voter registration system remained down Thursday afternoon in the wake of a cyberattack last week.

The attack on the statewide Illinois Voter Registration System occurred July 12, and the system was shut off July 13 as a precaution once the board realized the severity of the attack, according to a message sent to local election authorities.

Hackers exploited “a chink in the armor in one small data field in the online registration system,” said Ken Menzel, the board’s general counsel.

“We’re in the process of analyzing the tracks left by the attack,” Menzel said. “We’re still not ready to say exactly what might have been gotten into.”

Read more: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/state-and-regional/hackers-penetrate-illinois-voter-registration-database/article_6e58f325-367f-5f8e-aa78-f0b8224865cd.html