ATLANTA – The Georgia Secretary of State’s office confirmed on Wednesday that a cyberattack targeted the state’s voter registration website on the final day for voter registration. This incident occurred on October 7 at approximately 5:16 p.m. and caused significant delays in the internal system utilized by voters to request absentee ballots.
Gabriel Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer, reported that a security vendor promptly recognized the situation as a potential cyber threat. The website experienced an influx of over 420,000 IP addresses from various locations worldwide, which was quickly classified as a possible attack. In response, the cybersecurity team implemented measures to authenticate the users accessing the site.
As a result of these actions, the volume of traffic on the site decreased considerably. By around 5:40 p.m., the website had returned to its normal traffic levels. Officials continued to monitor the system throughout the evening, and by 10 p.m., they concluded that the attack had diminished.
Experts indicate that the source of the attack remains uncertain. The IP addresses involved were traced back to at least 20 different countries; however, officials suspect that the attackers may have utilized proxy servers located in other nations.
