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Majority of states now have election hacking trackers

Someone lifts the red, white, and blue curtain as a man enters a polling booth
Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images

36 states now have election hacking sensors deployed to detect intrusions in state computer systems managing voter data or voting devices, Reuters’ Chris Bing reports.

Why it matters: Only 14 sensors like these were installed before the 2016 presidential elections, when Illinois and Arizona had Russian hackers break into voter registration databases and targeted 21 states’ voter registration databases overall. Now the federal government has more visibility into when attacks are happening and can share that information with states, peg down trends, and can try to mitigate any associated damage.

The details: The sensors, known as "Albert" sensors, are $5,000 each, and are developed by the nonprofit the Center for Internet Security.

  • Although the Department of Homeland Security would not reveal which 14 states did not have the Albert sensors deployed, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters two of them are South Dakota and Wyoming.
Election Security