Illinois county hit with DDoS attack designed to ‘discourage you from voting’
A county in Illinois said its Clerk's Office was hit with a cyber attack that is slowing down computer servers and causing connectivity issues, part of a months-long campaign of DDoS attacks it reportedly endured.
In a post on Facebook acknowledging the attack, a Champaign County official said that "for the past month the Champaign County Clerk’s website has been the target of repeated D-DOS attacks."
Champaign County clerk Aaron Ammons stressed the DDoS attack in no way affects voter totals, as it is not really a hack, but rather an attempt to overload servers with requests. The Clerk's Office website is up as of writing, a vital resource given it includes polling information for voters.
"Fortunately the reinforced security and response from the Clerk’s IT team has prevented these attacks from being successful and the Clerk's website has remained secured," the post said.
It encouraged voters to continue to stay in line if there are any resultant delays from the DDoS attack.
"Please stay in line! Election judges and staff are doing everything they can to process voters according to the requirements of election law while navigating these attacks. We appreciate your patience and commitment to our democratic process," it said.
"These cyber-attacks are a strategic and coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize our democratic process. The intent is to discourage you from voting. Please do not fall victim to this," the message continued.
The DDoS attack comes in the wake of reports about difficulties with ballot tabulating machines in Arizona, helping add fire to an ecosystem poised to jump on any concerns about potential election issues.
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