IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

On Election Day, Hackers Launched 150,000 Attempts to Gain South Carolina Voter Data

A “cyber-hygiene scan” of South Carolina’s systems found 55 vulnerabilities with devices used by the State Election Commission.

(TNS) -- South Carolina was highlighted in a report as an example of the scale of hacking attempts that took place during the 2016 presidential election.

On Election Day alone, there were nearly 150,000 attempts to penetrate South Carolina’s voter-registration system, according to a report the Wall Street Journal published in Monday’s print edition.

South Carolina hired a private cybersecurity firm and had the state’s National Guard’s cybersecurity experts conduct security assessments at county election offices, the newspaper reported.

State officials requested the assistance of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which remotely completed a “cyber-hygiene scan” of South Carolina’s systems and found 55 vulnerabilities with four internet-connected devices used by the State Election Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal report.

Read the rest of the story here.

©2017 The State (Columbia, S.C.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.