Foreign Hackers Infiltrate 2 State Elections Systems, FBI Says

The FBI is investigating foreign hacks of two state board of elections systems and is warning states to take extra precautions ahead of November's general election.

The information was contained in an Aug. 18 "flash" alert that was sent out to state election officials and published Monday by Yahoo News. "Flash" bulletins are generally not intended for public use.

The alert contained information about which IP addresses the hackers targeted and the specific commands and programs used to infiltrate state voter databases.

Illinois was the victim of a voter database hack in July and was forced to shut down its systems for 10 days. Yahoo News reported the other hacking victim was the state of Arizona, which is holding a crucial primary election Tuesday.

Citing "federal and state law enforcement officials," Yahoo reported the hackers were foreign and that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson held a conference call with state election officials to offer up the department's help to shore up state elections systems.

Read the FBI's full "flash" notice here.

The news comes as serious questions have been raised about foreign influence in American elections.

Russian hackers in June breached the Democratic National Committee, making public some of the party's opposition research on Donald Trump. In July, hackers released a trove of DNC emails just before the party's convention that led to the resignation of then-party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Later that month, Trump seemed to encourage Russian hackers to cyber attack U.S. State Department information to bring down his rival, Hillary Clinton. He later clarified that he was just being sarcastic.

The FBI is investigating hacking attempts against The New York Times and other media outlets.

Image via Shutterstock