Hackers target US campaign finance system days before midterm elections – Al Jazeera

Hackers target US campaign finance system days before midterm elections  Al Jazeera

An FEC email said a ‘bad actor’ tried to breach its systems as the US prepares for its most expensive elections ever. Hackers have reportedly targeted the US Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) website, disrupting campaign financing disclosures just days before the midterm elections. An FEC email sent to a campaign compliance firm reportedly read, “We have a bad actor trying to breach FEC systems. As a result, we’ve had to temporarily suspend our web-facing services,” according to Reuters news agency. The outage prevents organisations from filing the FEC’s 24 and 48-hour spending reports, which track how political groups and candidates are spending on specific races. A status message on the FEC website showed the system was down after 10.15pm EST on Monday (2.15am GMT on Tuesday).

An update was posted on Tuesday at 8.17pm EST, reading, “The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented.” The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency both referred questions to the FEC. The FEC does not play a role in administering US elections, but the reported hack comes as so-called Super PACs and dark money groups are spending record sums in the final days before the midterm elections on November 3. Democratic FEC Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum wrote on X, “This has NOTHING to do with voter files or voter registration.