A report has been released that says that the Government Agency that is responsible for the certification of the voting machines in the U.S. had been hacked. A web security company known as the Recorded Future has been able to identify a hacker with the fictitious name of Rasputin was responsible for the hacking activities. It could break into the security system of the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and steal the entire login information. After this, it had given an offer for selling the information. This has taken the entire country by storm. This is the first time that such a thing has been reported in the United States of America.
Login Data May Have Been Sold
As per the report, Rasputin was into negotiations for selling this login information to a government broker of the Middle East. Around 100 login data was being sold. This transaction may have been done in return for a few thousand dollars. This is a serious breach of cyber security. According to Recorded Future, no foreign government was behind Rasputin by way of sponsoring it. Whatever may have been the case; this reflects a serious cyber security crime in which the democracy of the country is being challenged. The entire country’s future is at stake if this is held to be true.
Malware Insertion in EAC
As per one of the experts at Recoded Future, it is hard to tell whether the election results would be declared as null and void due to this hacking. According to him, it is not known when the first attack took place and for how long the hacking process was on. It may not affect the election, but there is a high probability that the buyer may have retrieved all the confidential and sensitive data to their advantage. They could have also inserted malware into the site of the EAC which may have created loopholes for the data which can be percolated out.
Federal Law Enforcement to Investigate the Matter
The data can be used by the enemies of the US to their advantage. They can influence the results of the elections. The total effect of the hacking is unknown. The information has been dispatched to the Federal Law Enforcement. They are the ones who will carry out the investigation and take necessary actions based on the reports. It is also unknown whether Rasputin has done any additional kind of government data theft.
