Photo: Noclip / Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
The US Federal Election Commission was targeted by a hacker or hackers who disrupted its electronic filing system just days before the November 3 midterm elections, Reuters reported in an exclusive report, citing an email seen by the news agency.
In a statement, the commission said its electronic filing system was offline and that its information technology staff were working to restore the service. The agency later said the issue had been identified and a fix was being implemented.
"A bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems"
An email sent by an FEC electronic filings officer to campaign compliance firms on Monday night said: "We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems. As a result, we've had to temporarily shut down our web-facing services," according to Reuters.
The outage prevented political organizations from filing mandatory 24-hour and 48-hour campaign spending reports, which disclose spending on specific races. Users could still search the FEC website for previously filed reports, Reuters reported.
The disruption comes as political groups and super PACs spend record amounts in the final days of the campaign, which will decide whether President Donald Trump's Republican Party keeps its majorities in Congress.
What the outage does — and does not — affect
The FEC tracks campaign spending by candidates and political committees. It does not administer US elections, so the disruption is not expected to affect voters' ability to cast their ballots.
The agency did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation referred questions to the FEC, according to reporting on the incident.
An election-integrity flashpoint
The cyber incident lands in a campaign in which Trump has repeatedly emphasized election integrity. He has said he would respect the midterm results "if they're honest," while warning that he holds a "strong veto" if Democrats take control of Congress. He has also announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people involved in voter fraud in past elections or the upcoming midterms.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and roughly one-third of the Senate are on the ballot on November 3. A CBS News poll published Sunday projected Democrats winning 229 House seats, enough for a majority, though Republicans retain a narrow path to holding control, according to reporting on the survey.
For now, the key question is how quickly the filing system returns — and whether the disrupted disclosures, which let voters see who is spending what in the campaign's final days, are restored before the polls open.
Sources: Reuters, as reported by The New Indian Express and Republic World (FEC filing-system outage, "bad actor" email, 24- and 48-hour reports blocked, fix being implemented, CISA and FBI referring questions); CBS News poll via The New Indian Express (Democrats projected at 229 House seats). The claim that hackers targeted the FEC rests on the email seen by Reuters; the FEC has not publicly identified the actor behind the incident.