US State of Georgia Accuses Homeland Security of Election Systems Hack

The Department of Homeland Security has tried to hack the election systems of the US state of Georgia, Secretary of State Brian Kemp wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — An alleged attack on Georgia’s government system occurred on November 15, 2016, and was unsuccessful, according to Kemp.

"On November 15, 2016, an IP address associated with the Department of Homeland Security made an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Georgia secretary of state’s firewall," Kemp wrote in the letter on Thursday.

The Georgia secretary of state asked Johnson whether the DHS had conducted the unauthorized scan and if so, who in the department had approved it.

Kemp also inquired whether such unauthorized scans had been attempted by the DHS against another other US states.

Kemp, who sits on the DHS Election Cyber Security Working Group, said he was "very concerned" by the incident.