Iowa adds technology to detect Russian election hacking attempts

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa is among the majority of states to adopt technology giving the federal government access to voter data and voter registration computer systems as part of the expanding effort to guard against Russian hacking attempts that targeted 21 states in 2016.

“We know in Iowa, thousands a day try to get into the government systems,” Secretary of State Paul Pate told Bloomberg News, adding that earlier this year he added the so-called Albert sensors to his computer network, a system that is separate from the state computer network.

At least 36 of 50 states have installed the sensors at the “elections infrastructure level,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. The sensors are named for Albert Einstein and modeled after a system used to protect federal government computer networks.

Homeland Security reported 74 individual sensors across 38 counties and other local government offices have been installed. Only 14 such sensors were installed before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. There are about 9,000 local jurisdictions where voting takes place.

Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-russian-election-hacking-technology-detect-hacking-security-voter-fraud-paul-pate-20180816