FBI Issues Warning on “Extremely Alarming” Threat

This article originally appeared on The Epoch Times and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Jack Phillips

An FBI official warned that state election systems are being targeted as the 2024 election approaches, describing them as “extremely alarming.”

“The threat environment, unfortunately, is very high,” said Tim Langan, executive assistant director for the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch of the FBI during a Washington conference with secretaries of state, according to Stateline. “It is extremely alarming.”

Officials said that voter databases could be hacked via phishing or ransomware attacks. They also warned about the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) that could be used to potentially trick voters, according to the report.

Eric Goldstein, the executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told the news outlet that there have been significant advancements that could allow China, North Korea, and Russia to target election systems.

“We are in a really difficult cybersecurity environment right now,” he said. “Every single location is at risk regardless of size, regardless of sector,” he added

Neither official provided any concrete examples in the report. But during the event, Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said last month that a bomb threat was called into the state capitol in Frankfort, saying that explosives would “make sure you all end up dead.” No bombs were found, and eight other state capitols received threats.

“Hopefully, it’s not a sign of what’s to come this year,” Mr. Adams told Stateline. “The benefit of all that we have gone through the last several years is that everybody in this room is psychologically prepared in 2024.”

Regarding the alleged foreign threats to U.S. election systems, CISA, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, released a warning several days ago that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “state-sponsored cyber actors are seeking to pre-position themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States.”

CISA, the FBI, and the U.S. National Security Agency said that a CCP-backed group, known as Volt Typhoon compromised the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Transportation Security Administration. Agencies operated by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom were also targeted by the group, it said.

In another example, an alleged cyberattack in January disabled systems across Fulton County, Georgia, where former President Donald Trump and others are facing charges for alleged election interference. Meanwhile, local governments in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Colorado were targeted via ransomware attacks late last month.

Speakers at a recent FBI conference also made reference to AI-generated content, including robocalls. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently moved to ban robocalls that use AI earlier this month.

Read the full story at The Epoch Times.