The Russian government targeted election systems in 21 states during last year’s presidential election, Department of Homeland Security officials said Wednesday during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sam Liles, acting director of the Cyber Division of Homeland Security, said that it is important to note that "none of these systems were involved in vote tallying."
Liles said 21 states "were potentially targeted by Russian government-linked cyber actors." He did not name the 21 states he said were targeted by Russia.
He said that some of the attempted intrusions were unsuccessful "as if someone rattled the door knob and was unable to get in," but in other cases, "they made it through the door."
Jeanette Manfra, acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity at DHS, said that the department has “evidence of election-related systems in 21 states that were targeted."
The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating the American intelligence community’s assessment that Russia sought to influence the American election, and probing allegations of possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.
"We have evidence of 21 states, election related systems in 21 states, that were targeted." pic.twitter.com/FfJoEhhfwo
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 21, 2017
