Iranians behind hacked US election data, FBI and Homeland Security reveal

Less than a week before the US election, the threats of hacking the voter bank and details are getting more serious, and the US official bodies FBI and Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have now released a report on the earlier reported hack.

The US Presidential elections, between the current Republican candidate and President Donald Trump and his Democrat rival and former Vice President Joe Biden, are scheduled on November 03 and the early voting has already started in majority states and more than 80 million people have already cast their ballots. However, with an increase in mail-in voting, the threat of data breach has increased.

A few weeks back, the US official bodies, FBI and CISA, had revealed that some international organisations (private) were trying to hack into voters'data. On Friday, the two security organisations have confirmed that those hacks were initiated by Iranian hackers. The hacking campaign being talked about included several emails sent to US voters — selected on a random basis — portraying to be a far-right group of being a Trump supporter. It also featured a video message where the hackers urged the viewers to create chaos by breaking into voter registration records.

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"We have confirmed that in at least one state the threat actor did obtain [access] to a voter registration database by abusing a website misconfiguration," said Jermaine Roebuck, an official at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. "We are aware of the specific states that were targeted in this activity and we’re actively coordinating with those states currently to ensure proper remediation."

CISA and the FBI confirmed Friday that "the actor successfully obtained voter registration data in at least one state." However, the states have not been specified yet, but the video was flashed in Alaska, locals claimed. As of now, the local media has reported that 10 states have been scanned — the reports have not been confirmed yet, though. It is also not clear whether or not the hackers were able to actually break into the systems.

The security organisations also claimed that the Iranian hackers had also scanned several other states' election sites to assess their vulnerability. 

The statement has come after the US-based news agency Reuters reported that Russian hackers are trying to target California and Indiana branches of the Democratic Party this year. The report has not been confirmed by the security officials.