FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Security has been stepped up at polling locations across South Florida in an effort to thwart any hack attacks.
Millions of Florida voters have already cast their ballots ahead of election day. As early voting seems to be growing more popular, election officials know voters aren’t the only ones who have an interest in the results.
“There are folks out there who want to do damage to our systems so that it prevents people from participating,” said Brenda Snipes, the supervisor of elections in Broward County.
Every single county in Florida is using a cyber security system called Albert to keep hackers out. The Department of Homeland Security is paying for it, and officials are hoping it’ll keep the upcoming midterm elections the safest in modern history.
“We get to see if there’s any attempts of compromise on our network,” said Broward County supervisor of elections IT director George Nunez, “so that’s monitored 24/7, 365 [days a year].”
Snipes said there is no shortage of hacking attempts. “There are people and entities who, on a regular basis, are trying to penetrate the system,” she said. “So far, no one has been successful.”
Nunez makes sure those hackers can’t get through.
“If they get into the system, they can attack our voter registration system where all the voter records are held, and obviously, that could create chaos for us on Election Day,” Nunez said.
The Albert system has one weakness: it can only catch what it knows to look for, so an unknown threat could still be dangerous.
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