Earlier this month, Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office thwarted a cyberattack that targeted the website where voters request absentee ballots ahead of the elections.

The threat was detected on October 14, just a day before early voting commenced, when officials noted a surge of hundreds of thousands of attempts to access the site, as confirmed by the secretary of state’s office to YSL News.

Although cyber security specialists managed to repel the attack, the exact source of the threat remains uncertain. Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer of the Secretary of State’s office, shared with CNN that this attempt might have been linked to a foreign nation.

Authorities confirm: Cyberattack did not affect absentee ballot website functionality

CNN reported on the cyberattack attempt the following Wednesday after election officials confirmed that the Georgia site was inundated with access attempts from hundreds of thousands of IP addresses across various countries.

The secretary of state’s office confirmed to YSL News that the attempted attack consisted of over 420,000 simultaneous access attempts globally, corroborating earlier reports from Atlanta’s WSB-TV.

Sterling, who oversees elections in Georgia, shared this information via tweets on social media platform X, referencing both reports from CNN and WSB-TV.

“The attack was swiftly identified and dealt with,” Sterling stated in his first tweet, following up with, “This is a significant success for our cybersecurity team and our collaborators.”

According to Sterling, the attack did not impede voters’ ability to request their ballots.

A representative from the office later confirmed this information to YSL News on Thursday morning but did not have additional details to provide.

This attempted cyberattack occurred amid increasing concerns regarding foreign interference in the upcoming presidential elections. On the same day, U.S. intelligence officials reported that Russia was responsible for circulating a fraudulent video that made false sexual abuse allegations against Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, as part of efforts to disrupt the election in favor of Donald Trump.

Cyberattack happened just before early voting in Georgia

This cyber assault took place just before early voting began on October 15 in Georgia.

Since the early voting started, there has been a significant turnout of voters in Georgia. By Monday, which marked the eighth day of early voting, more than 1.5 million residents had already cast their ballots, exceeding previous early voting records, according to a statement from the secretary of state.

In the previous presidential election in 2020, a total of 1,010,162 Georgians had voted by the eighth day of early voting, based on data from the office.

“Georgia voters recognize that we’ve streamlined the voting process. It’s really straightforward,” remarked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “We’ve been working diligently for the past four years to prepare for this election by extending early voting periods and investing in our infrastructure. We are well-prepared and ready.”