Russian Hackers Tried And Failed To Access Washington Voting Systems

Russian hackers attempted to access the Washington state election system prior to the 2016 election but were unsuccessful in their attempts, Secretary of State Kim Wyman said in a news release.

Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security officially informed the Secretary of State of the hacking attempts on Friday.

"As we've stated before, we continue to work cooperatively with DHS — including during the election last year, " Wyman said. "The security protocols we already have in place made us aware of these attempted intrusions by Russian IP addresses throughout the course of the 2016 election. There was no successful intrusion and we immediately alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the activities."

In June, Bloomberg reported that cyberattacks by Russians included incursions into voting systems in 39 states.

Russians attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election are under investigation by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and by Congress. In the latest development, Facebook is delivering 3,000 ads it believes were bought by Russians to Congress. Top government officials have repeatedly said that while Russians attempted to sway the election in favor of Donald Trump, there is no evidence that actual votes were altered.

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