From the we-re-from-the-government-and-we’re-here-to-help-you dept., Tyler Durden reports:
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is anxiously wondering, as are we, why someone with a Department Of Homeland Security IP address would try to hack into his State’s voter registration database. Even though DHS offered cyber security help to states prior to the election, the Wall Street Journal notes that Georgia was one of the states that specifically denied assistance.
The secretary of state of Georgia is asking the Department of Homeland Security to explain what appears to be an attempted breach of the state’s voter registration database by someone in the federal government.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson dated Thursday, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brian Kemp said the state had discovered an unsuccessful attempt to breach the firewall of state computer systems. That attempt was linked to an IP address associated with DHS, he said.
“At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network,” wrote Mr. Kemp, a Republican. “Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.”
Read more on ZeroHedge.
Maybe Orin Kerr or some legal scholars would care to analyze or outline all the laws that DHS may have violated if the allegations are true.
In the meantime, I’m just going to code this one as an attempted hack on a government entity, and remind everyone of the wisdom of Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
h/t, Joe Cadillic
Update: Dan Goodin suggests everyone just breathe until the state is more specific about the allegations as to what DHS allegedly tried to do.