More states confirm cyberattacks sourced to DHS

ATLANTA - Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Aaron Diamant has learned two more states’ election agencies have confirmed cyberattacks linked to the same U.S. Department of Homeland Security IP address as last month’s massive attack in Georgia.

In the past week, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed 10 separate cyberattacks on its network were traced back to DHS addresses.

In an exclusive interview, Secretary of State Brian Kemp confirmed the attacks of different levels on his agency’s network over the last 10 months. He said they all traced back to DHS internet provider addresses.

"We're being told something that they think they have it figured out, yet nobody's really showed us how this happened,” Kemp said. "We need to know."

Kemp told Diamant that his office's cybersecurity vendor discovered the additional so-called vulnerability scans to his network's firewall after a massive mid-November cyberattack triggered an internal investigation.

The Secretary of State's Office manages Georgia’s elections, and most concerning for Kemp about the newly discovered scans is the timing.
The first one happened on Feb. 2, the day after Georgia’s voter registration deadline. The next one took place just days before the SEC primary. Another occurred in May, the day before the general primary, and then two more took place in November, the day before and the day of the presidential election.

"It makes you wonder if somebody was trying to prove a point,” Kemp said.
Last week, the DHS confirmed the large Nov. 15 attack traced back to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection internet gateway. But Kemp says the DHS’ story about its source keeps changing.
"First, it was an employee in Corpus Christi, and now, it's a contractor in Georgia,” Kemp said.
Unsatisfied with the response he got from DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson this week, Kemp fired off a letter Wednesday to loop in President-elect Donald Trump.
"We just need to ask the new administration to take a look at this and make sure that we get the truth the people of Georgia are deserving to know that and really demanding it,” Kemp said.

No, in order to route information from one computer to another you need a from and to destination. The number was left as a byproduct. It is not too hard to back trace someone doing a port probe. You can download scripts or automated hacking programs from the jihad if you promise to only use them on Jews. Many teenagers desiring to be hackers but too lazy to study do so. We used to call them script kiddies.

If the hacking routine finds a vulnerability it will install a backdoor and notify the hacker wannabee...

A real hacker would have taken over a few servers and routed their control through those servers to run their port attacks from someone else’s computer to help hide their tracks.

Either way you look at it, at worst it is treason, at best stunning incompetence.

The problem I have with the choice is that if the hacker was good enough to route through DHS, they would not be running full blown port probes.

A competent operative would identify the operating system of the target and saved his cover server for a proper port unerability for that system. Full port probes are as subtle as a bull in a China shop,

This leaves me to conclude arrogant leftist Treason.

So, was this a lone wolf, or were the highest levels of DHS and their bosses involved. Everyone involved should be doing hard time in prison within a year, and DHS should be pruned severely if not cut off at the roots entirely. If heads do not roll from this, Americans can no longer trust the DHS.

In the least, if election hack terrorism operations can be run from INSIDE the DHS itself, then they are beyond worthless and their budget this year should reflect that.

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