Voter Websites In California And Florida Could Be Vulnerable To Hacks, Report Finds

Back in July, two cybersecurity firms sent the Department of Homeland Security a troubling report that described a possible vulnerability in the online voter registration systems in dozens of counties in California and Florida.

The report, obtained by NPR, warned that flaws that might have allowed hackers to change a handful of voter registration files four years ago are still likely to exist in some places, and could be used again.

A spokesperson for DHS' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, called the report "questionable" and "unverified," and said the department "takes vulnerability reporting and remediation seriously."

The report comes, however, as Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced Wednesday that Russian and Iranian hackers had used some voter registration information in a bid to send misinformation to voters and sow discord ahead of the election. It is unclear if the voter registration websites the report identified as vulnerable were part of the hack Ratcliffe revealed.