From TechRadar · · 2m
FEC cyberattack blacks out campaign spending days before midterms
A cyberattack took the Federal Election Commission offline for 41 hours just before the US midterm elections, blocking disclosure of millions in political donations.
In brief
A cyberattack took the Federal Election Commission offline for 41 hours just before the US midterm elections, blocking disclosure of millions in political donations. The Federal Election Commission went offline for almost 41 hours due to a cyberattack, preventing disclosure of 24 and 48 hour donation reports days…
FEC hit by cyberattack on Monday
The Federal Election Commission went offline for almost forty-one hours after a bad actor attempted to gain access to systems. Filing systems were taken down to contain the attack.
Donation reports blocked for 41 hours
During the outage, twenty-four and forty-eight hour donation reports could not be filed. This created a window where big donors and SuperPACs could fund campaigns without disclosure.
Timing raises transparency concerns
The outage occurred days before voters headed to the polls in what is the most significant voting occasion in Donald Trump's second term. Campaign finance watchdogs voiced outrage about the lack of transparency.
Millions in spending went undeclared
According to OpenSecrets research director Brendan Glavin, around fifty million dollars was spent per day in the lead up to the FEC outage, with two hundred fifty million spent on October twenty alone.
Watchdog warns on transparency loss
Hilary Braseth, executive director of OpenSecrets, said disclosure delayed is disclosure denied. When hundreds of millions in outside money flood political airwaves in final days before an election, transparency is a fundamental public safeguard.
“Disclosure delayed is disclosure denied. When hundreds of millions of dollars in outside money flood political airwaves in the final days before an election, transparency is not an optional luxury, it is a fundamental public safeguard.”
Tracking last-minute spending impossible
Molly White, a crypto and Big Tech political spending tracker, told Reuters the filing systems being down meant no visibility into last-minute spending ramped up as the election draws nearer.
“We didn't have access to the last-minute spending, which is really ramped up as the election draws nearer. We have no visibility into that when the filing systems are down. It's pretty devastating this close to the election.”
SuperPACs backing pro-AI candidates
AI has been a hot topic ahead of the midterm elections on November third. SuperPACs have spent millions to support pro-AI candidates and millions more to harm those critical of the technology.
Trump administration pushes AI spending
President Trump has pushed an administrative policy of AI at any cost, claiming the US economy and national security depends on AI superiority over China.
The key point
The Federal Election Commission went offline for almost 41 hours due to a cyberattack, preventing disclosure of 24 and 48 hour donation reports days before the midterm elections.
