State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Half of Federal Election Security Funds Will Go to Cyber Program in Illinois

Government Technology: Illinois counties could get a cut of $13.2 million to fortify election databases and avoid a repeat of the 2016 election, when as many as 76,000 voters' data may have been compromised.

National security officials say voting systems in 21 states were targeted by Russian-connected hackers two years ago, prompting Congress to allocate $380 million to secure election systems and shore up cybersecurity. Use of Illinois' money is laid out in the state budget approved this spring, which designates no less than half be used to create a Cyber Navigator Program to support the efforts of election authorities to defend against cyberbreaches and detect and recover from attacks.

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