North Carolina officials are investigating whether Russian hackers targeted state or local elections staffers by posing as a voting software supplier.
State elections board director Kim Westbrook Strach said Tuesday the move follows a leaked classified intelligence report suggesting election-related hacking reached further into U.S. voting systems than previously known.
Russian intelligence attempted to target voting software company VR Systems and then send spear-phishing emails seeming to come from the company to more than 100 local election officials.
Durham is among 21 North Carolina counties that used the software in November to check in voters casting in-person ballots. Elections Day problems with the software forced extended Durham County balloting hours.
A different equipment problem caused the late tally of 94,000 Durham County votes cast before election day.
Here is a list of 21 counties that used the software: Ashe, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Craven, Cumberland, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gaston, Gates, Granville, Halifax, Hyde, Johnston, Mecklenburg, Nash, Rowan, Sampson, Vance, Warren and Wilson.
"The agency’s cyber partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and post-election audits by the state and county boards of elections are among the many ways North Carolina protects election data and ensures accurate results," Strach said in a news release. "This agency takes any reports of possible interference with our election processes very seriously.
We are actively investigating reported attempts to compromise VR Systems’ electronic poll book software, which is used on Election Day in 21 of North Carolina’s 100 counties to help check in voters who show up to cast ballots in person. The software is not used during early voting and does not play any role in ballot marking or vote tabulation."
