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Secretary of State's Office Staves Off Attempted Hack On Election Day

Gov. Mike DeWine signs SB52, creating the Ohio Cyber Reserve (
Andy Chow
Gov. Mike DeWine signs SB52, creating the Ohio Cyber Reserve (

Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s spokesperson says there was what they call an "unsophisticated and unsuccessful" attempt to insert code to the office's website on election day earlier this month.

The Ohio Secretary of State's office says the effort to get into its website can be traced back to a Russian-owned company.

They say the threat originated from a computer in Panama and the IP address appears to be registered to a Russian-owned company.

LaRose recently worked with the legislature to create the Ohio Cyber Reserve, a team of volunteers that would be trained to handle potential cyber-attacks on the government, infrastructure, or businesses.

His office points out that election security is a top priority and that he has directed all 88 county boards of elections to adopt a comprehensive, multi-faceted security strategy.

Contact Andy at achow@statehousenews.org.
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