(NewsNation) — The Secretary of State’s office in Georgia successfully fended off a cyberattack targeting the website that Georgia voters use to request an absentee ballot, according to a report by CNN. And it could be the latest in “sustained” efforts by other countries to undermine the U.S. election, according to a new report from Microsoft.
“It slowed our systems down for a little bit, but it never stopped our systems from working,” Deputy Secretary of State Gabe Sterling told the network about the attack earlier this month. He also said the attack probably came from overseas.
The attack came in the form of hundreds of thousands of IP addresses from numerous countries flooding the Georgia website with bogus traffic, according to Sterling.
Meanwhile, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said Wednesday that it has observed “sustained influence efforts by Russia, Iran, and China aimed at undermining U.S. democratic processes.”
The Microsoft report alleges that Iran has been focusing its disruption efforts on the Donald Trump campaign, while Russia has pivoted toward the Kamala Harris campaign and China is targeting other U.S. races.
“Russian actors continue to integrate generative AI into their content, Iranian groups ramp up their preparations to enable cyber-influence operations, while Chinese actors shift focus to several down-ballot candidates and members of Congress,” Microsoft said.
“Russian actors have notably attempted to target the Harris-Walz campaign by attacking the candidates’ characters,” it added.