Russian hackers tried to breach Washington state’s voting systems before the 2016 election: report

Russian hackers tried—and failed—to infiltrate Washington State’s election systems during the 2016 presidential election, the Seattle Times reports.

This attack appears to be separate from a hack on the voting systems and databases of 39 states, details of which were reported by Bloomberg News in June. In those attacks, Russians attempted to delete or alter voter information and successfully accessed software intended for use by poll workers.

Washington’s Secretary of State Kim Wyman told the Times the Department of Homeland Security on Friday “confirmed information her office previously shared with federal security officials last year.”

“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,” Wyman said.

Read the full report at the Seattle Times.