OH Secretary of State’s Website Hacked

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This is troubling:

The office of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on Monday afternoon said that it is limiting the functionality of its web site after its tech department had detected a security breach.

“Due to security concerns experienced by the Secretary of State’s website, full functionality of the website has been suspended to protect the integrity of state records and data.  Full functionality will be restored when we are assured that all data has been protected to acceptable levels of security,” said Secretary of State Brunner in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

[snip]

"What we know is our IT department detected a situation with our Web site where there was somehow suspicious activity where someone could have gotten into our site and tried to move things around," a spokesman told The Cleveland Plain Dealer Monday afternoon.

The office’s statement noted that "this is not the first instance of direct assault on the operations of the Secretary of State’s office." [my emphasis]

Click through to read about all the death threats McCain’s legions (presumably) have been making.

There’s more in this Dayton Daily News story.

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54 replies
    • timr says:

      No, it began when the rep party filed suit-thrown out by SCOTUS-then continued when various DAs decided to press Grand Jury investigations into the same clims that were denied by SCOTUS. This is only the next step. The rep party is so focused on winning that they will do ANYTHING to win. Commit a crime, fake evidence, involve the DoJ and the FBI into the political process. voter supression, purging voting rolls, anything. The reps have become, in my mind, a criminal organization. They want to continue in power so that they can continue to loot the US. If they prevail in this election it will bring back the old days of Tammany Hall, the 1930s when criminal organizations controlled cities and states. No idea is ever buried and done away with, it always comes back in a new form. All the reps want now is to retain control of the executive branch, which they have already turned into a kind of dictatorship in that gwb can do whatever he wants to and sense congress ceeded him many of its powers, the office is now more akin to that of a dictator than a democratically elected president.

  2. readerOfTeaLeaves says:

    On the upside, it’s good the Ohio SoS IT folks are keeping an eye on this, and I hope they find the perpetrators. Meanwhile, who’s looking out for the other 49 states…?

    • Leen says:

      It is disturbing and so deeply disappointing to think that some people will do anything to steal an election.

      I hope folks in other states take Klynn’s lead and check out other Republican students web, chat political sites in their own states. If the student that posted that letter encouraging others to commit voter fraud is held accountable, anyone else who posted any suggestions similar to that will be taking those comments down quickly.

  5. Citizen92 says:

    Remember back in 2004 when Ohio SOS Ken Blackwell outsourced vote tabulation to GovTech Solutions?

    The same umbrella company owned by GOP tech guru Mike Connell who runs Karl Rove’s gwb43.com alternate White House email system? The same umbrella company that runs a host of the RNC’s domains? The same umbrella company that was “behind the firewall” of the House Intelligence Committee’s website during GOP rule?

    It was an inside job.

  7. dww44 says:

    I need sources and information to rebut what was said at a meeting of one of my arts non-profit Board meetings. Truth is, I am the ONLY Democrat and they all know it. If there are others they are too chicken to say it. So I walk in and the President, who is an attorney, and our Artistic Director, who is my friend, but who is so right-wing, mostly because she listens to Talk Radio every day 1/2 the day and then tunes into Fox at night. The AD says that folks should have to pass a literacy test to vote and I said, get over it, this is a Democracy and everyone is entitled to vote if he/she meets the age and residency requirements. The Pres-VP said that one should have to produce photo ID. I said that you do here in Georgiabut he replied you don’t in Ohio and that his uncle told him that people were multiple voting there.Then another person chimes in that it has been documented that someone admitted to voting 73 times in Ohio.

    So, then I figured out this whole story is being spread in conservative radio land. It is so obvious that they are in a REAL panic about the outcome of this election. As if they can’t believe it. Amazing. Relinquishing power and believing in a representative Democracy are not Republicans strong suit. Not in these parts.

    Can anyone direct me to sources to rebut these claims about multiple voting in Ohio? Trust me, these days I leave no smear or inaccuracy unrebutted.

    • TheOtherWA says:

      Here’s the explanation of the person who registered 73 times. He registered under his own name and at the same address every time. How sinister. /snark

      They simply came up as duplicates. No fraud on his part, just the people who wanted ACORN to pay them for getting the cards filled out.

    • Gitcheegumee says:

      Hmm…I wonder how many of those folks yelling Kill Him and Obama is a Muslim at the Palin rallies wouold pass a literacy test? Or is it illiteracy test?

  9. bell says:

    in response -tell your artistic director friend that anyone who listens to talk radio needs to pass a literacy test in order to know how to listen to it, otherwise they swallow so much bs, it ends up rotting their mind (hers included by the sound of it)..

  11. pdaly says:

    WRT to the last 8 years:

    Republican machinations to cling to power do remind me of the former leaders East Germany.

    They hide behind secret curtains and erect walls of barbed wire (and now tapped wire) to prevent freedom thinkers from finding a new way.

    A philosophy that, to succeed, requires the active suppression of people voting with their feet is a failure by definition.

  12. Ishmael says:

    I think Sara gets this right on the Greene Co. thread earlier:

    “Something is clearly up in Xenia. I got a blast E-mail today that covered a multitude of Antioch and Antiochian Lists, asking for at least 20 emergency volunteers for poll watching training and then duty till the close of business on election day. The post came from one of the Obama Fellows. Apparently they believe they need watchers and witnesses for everything. I’ll try to contact the Fellow and see if I can get more details.

    Putting this together with the apparent computer hack, my guess is a strategy of creating chaos, the better to claim massive fraud. The better to cause voters to be put off, and not show up for the actual voting. So First things first — do the Obama Cool, and reassure all the voters that all they need to do is show up election day and vote.”

    Absolutely agree, as despicable as the tire slashing and beatings and bear killing (!!) is, it is very important not to play into the sense that the world is falling apart because a Democrat is on the verge of being elected President.

    • bmaz says:

      They are starting that chaos early enough that it, handled properly, can be exposed and defended though. If they blow their wad too early and get caught in a couple of places, it totally takes the steam out of the effort too early for it to succeed.

  15. Hmmm says:

    Welp, I guess the NSA could always roll back their recordings of internet traffic for the time period when the attacks were observed, and try to trace the packets back to find the hackers. After all, unauthorized entry to a computer system, especially a government computer system, is a PATRIOT Act offense, is it not? I’m sure Central DOJ will be right on this one.

  16. klynn says:

    EW,

    Glad you picked this story up. I was about to email you about it when I saw Sara’s comment at the end of the Greene County story and figured you were on it. Funny how this happened on the same day that a story broke about the Greene County Young Republicans committing voter fraud and encouraging it on a larger scale…

    Just say’n…Hmmmm…

  17. wigwam says:

    McCain desperately needs Ohio. Per Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com:
    – If McCain loses Ohio, he has less than a tenth of a percent chance of winning election.
    – If Obama loses Ohio, he still has a 74% chance of winning the election.

    • rwcole says:

      Yeah he needs to hold Ohio- but he’s also got to hold nearly every other red state- and Iowa is already long gone.

      He needs Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, plus at least one from Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.

      Odds are long.

      • dosido says:

        I’m going to give my teen a pat on the back. One of the California dem offices is/was making a ton of calls to NM.

        yay.

  18. radiofreewill says:

    So, the Secretary of State’s Office has “locked-down” IT after detecting a penetration that got far enough “in” to be in a position to manipulate data. IOW, they’ve got a snap-shot of the crime scene, and now they are ready to forensically analyze the logging activities since the last System Back-Up.

    Somebody’s track-able, digital fingerprints are all over this crime.

    It’s kind of like a Security Guard noticing tape on the latch of an office door…

  20. billybugs says:

    The republicans aren’t gonna go down easily!!
    They will need to be dragged out, kicking and screaming

  21. alank says:

    It does not instill confidence to hear their data was possibly compromised. Something like this usually involves an insider.

  22. rwcole says:

    On election night, if Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, or Ohio turn blue- it’s all over. Could be an early night- on the other hand, if McBush wins those early states, the rest of the evening could be a nail biter

    • perris says:

      I read that with early voting machines are already flipping votes

      gonna be a nail biter just worrying about that

      • perris says:

        here it is

        Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week

        • perris says:

          more

          Oct 20, 2008 … Paperless e-voting machines have reportedly flipped Obama votes to McCain during early voting in West Virginia.

  23. perris says:

    from the link about the attack;

    Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State’s office via the previous location of the Client Services Center.

    that is a terrorist attack and that’s the way it should be discussed

  25. james says:

    This has all the marks of ProMIS software which has been around since the late 70s and was stolen from its creator by the Reagan Justice Dept.

    ProMIS works as a Trojan horse. Computers affected can be accessed remotely with data being sent to a satellite. Jonathan Pollard used a version of this to transfer secrets to Israel when he worked for ONI.

    The last people who Brunner should let get involved would be Homeland Security types although they might try to hijack the investigation as a “terrorist-related” incident.

  26. Nanz says:

    My fervent hope is that if we do prevail in electing a working majority in the Senate and Congress, and the presidency, one of the major tasks, among the myriad of others, will be to overhaul from the bottom to the top our electoral system. Do you think this is at all possible or are these wicked systems so beneficial to them all that that is something that will not be possible?

  27. Gitcheegumee says:

    I’m glad you mentioned Blackwell. Ohio has been on my radar for quite a while now,for several reasons.John McCain,early on, had selected Pastor Rod Parsley of Ohio as one of his spritual advisors,along with John Hagee. Rod Parsley was instrumental in the Blackwell campaign. Parsley created a poltical force called Patriot Pastors to mobilize votes for Blackwell.. Parsley is a proponent of prosperity gospel and has HUGE mega church and TV ministry. Now, little has been said of Carl Linder,also of Ohio. This was Charles Keating’s partner. Remember Keating Five? Here’s some links. A whole thread could be done on the Ohio issues and the significance to the GOP this state holds.

    )
    McCain Still Receives Big $$$s from Keating S&L Figure Linked to BCCI and Organized Crime
    Posted by leveymg in General Discussion Aug 21st 2008,
    A lot of people are familiar with S&L crook Charles Keating’s illegal contributions to John McCain in the 1980s. What most don’t know, however, was that Keating was implicated in the BCCI takeover of a number of S&Ls, including his own. With me, so far?

    Carl Lindner, an Ohio billionaire with CIA and underworld connections who owned Chiquita Bananas, was Charles Keating’s original partner, banker, and mentor. Lindner got Keating wrapped up with schemes involving the usual cast of BCCI characters, shady Saudi bankers, the Bush family, and Iran-Contra money laundering. Keating was always a sort of pass-through guy, without any real money of his own. But, a lot of money flowed through Keating to McCain and his wife, Cindy, in an Arizona real estate scam. Lindner who was recently convicted of financing Right-wing death squads in Colombia, is still giving big, dirty campaign checks to McCain. Now, that’s a story that the American people need to hear.

    leveymg’s Journal – THE CRIMES AND COVERUPS OF JOHN McCAIN, “REFORMER” Jun 3, 2008 … Like the Bush Family, McCain had his Hand in the BCCI and S&L Scandals http://journals.democraticunderground.com/… – 48k

    McCain Backer’s Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In Colombia …Jul 2, 2008 … Late last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25000-per-person fundraiser for McCain and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills …
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/02/m…

  29. Leen says:

    “In recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death. Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State’s office via (a previously used address)”
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/21/132013/00

  30. lynnlightfoot says:

    I just read this story and had not yet read the comments. Someone may already have predicted what the next move will be: The Republicans will float the story that there’s something suspicious here, that the Democratic Sec. of State is trying to make it look as though the website is under attack from them AS A COVER for shenanigans she will be pulling.

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