First ransomware attack in 2020 election hits voting infrastructure in Georgia

Key voting infrastructure of a county in Georgia has been impacted by a ransomware attack targeting local government networks.

A ransomware attack targeting the government systems of Georgia's Hall County also impacted key voting infrastructure it has been revealed.

Today, CNN reported the incident "May be the first ransomware attack to hit election infrastructure this political season."

According to Hall County spokesperson Katie Crumley, the county's voter signature database and voting precinct map were heavily impacted by the attack.

"The voting process for our citizens has not been impacted due to the network issues."

The attackers are not believed to have targeted Hall County's voting systems specifically, with many of the county services being disrupted including phone and email.

Speaking to Cointelegraph Brett Callow of cybersecurity firm Emsisoft noted that US local government entities have been falling victim to ransomware attacks at a rate of approximately three per week, although he believes the impact on voting is more likely to be "Collateral damage".

Callow believes we'll see more incidents impacting voting systems ahead of election day with the impact going beyond mere technical damage.

"There is also a very real risk that they may shake voter confidence in the integrity of the vote, especially as confidence may already be quite low."

Concerns have been mounting around the threat ransomware may pose to the U.S. presidential election for weeks, with security firm NTT warning last month that criminal actors may have already penetrated key government networks and could waiting to cause havoc closer to the election.