Many news sources are reporting that this is the first documentated cyberattack against an election in the US; however, the attempt is said to have been easily thwarted.

The attack consisted of approximately 2,500 requests for Absentee Ballots, but many of the requests were routed via overseas proxies, as well as being lumped together at a very fast pace. This allowed the election controllers to identify and blacklist the offending IPs. After an extended investigation and Grand Jury process, no one was identified as the culprit and the intention of the attack remains undetermined.

The Miami Herald reports that the evidence presented at the Grand Jury did not include domestic IPs - but information came to light later that might allow portions of the attack to be traced to computers in Florida.

Election fraud is a growing concern as more and more states and countries are turning to e-voting solutions, many of which are inherently insecure (fundamentally flawed designs are a major issue in this industry).

Because this particular attack was easily mitigated, it only qualifies as a Level Two Attack - if future attempts at election fraud are successful, those could easily rate higher on the Gibson Index.

Related Links

• The Miami Herald: The case of the phantom ballots: an electoral whodunit
• HuffingtonPost: Florida Cyberattack On Absentee Ballot Site Is First Known Case Of Online Election Tampering: Report
• The Christian Science Monitor: First-ever cyberattack on US election points to broad vulnerabilities