Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose notified all of Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections to be aware of potential Iranian cyber threats.
This notice comes after state networks across the country saw an increase in suspicious cyber activity from active internet protocol (IP) addresses originating from several countries, including Iran earlier this week, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s press release.
As tensions between America and Iran have risen recently, LaRose mandated all county election boards to block a specific set of Iranian IP addresses on its firewalls.
“The bad guys only have to be right once. We have to be right every day,” he said. “Enemies foreign and domestic have made it known that they are going on the offensive, and I want to assure Ohioans that I will be as transparent as I can be to share all available unclassified information with them about what we are doing to protect Ohio’s elections.”
Despite this suspicious internet activity, Ohio’s county election boards have not been hacked, according to the press release.
In November, foreigners tried to hack into LaRose’s office on election day, but they were unsuccessful. The failed attack was traced back to a Russian-owned company.
Currently, the county board of elections in Ohio is implementing a “34-point security directive” issued by LaRose in the summer that will help sure up election security.
Gov. Mike DeWine passed a law in October that created the Ohio Cyber Reserve. People on this reserve are made up of technical experts who will fight against state election hacks.
“I’m here to reassure every Ohio voter that when you go to cast your ballot it’s going to be accurately counted and the results you see on election night will reflect the true will of Ohio’s voters,” LaRose said.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “Frank LaRose” by Frank LaRose. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
