DHS Officials Tell Senators That 21 States Were Targeted by Russian Hackers

A Department of Homeland Security official on Wednesday compared the behavior of Kremlin-linked hackers seeking to disrupt the 2016 election to that of burglars casing a neighborhood, with a few “rattled” doorknobs and a few successful entries.

DHS officials told the Senate Intelligence committee that the hackers potentially targeted 21 state election-related systems, but that the systems were not used in vote tallying.

“As of right now, we have evidence of election-related systems in 21 states that were targeted,” Jeanette Manfra, DHS acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity, told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Samuel Liles, acting director of the cyber division within the office of intelligence and analysis at DHS, said the "vast majority" of this activity seemed to be hackers “scanning for vulnerabilities.”

"Analogous to somebody walking down the street and looking to see if you are home," Liles said. The largest chunk of states experienced only this “preparatory activity,” according to written testimony.