Election Day: Repeated cyberattacks down Mississippi secretary of state’s office website

The Mississippi secretary of state’s office website was repeatedly hit by cyberattacks on Election Day, causing the government website to shut down, the department said on social media Tuesday. 

The department’s website doesn’t hold voting data but is a source for voters on how and where to cast ballots in the midterm.

“It has come to our attention several state websites have experienced issues today, including the Secretary of State’s office,” the office said. “If you are having trouble accessing election information, please feel free to call our Elections Hotline (1-800-829-6786), your local Circuit Clerk, or your local Election Commissioner. Polls remain open until 7:00 p.m., so please get out and vote!”

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The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office website provides information on where and how to vote. 
(sos.ms.gov)

Russian hackers had called for the website to be attacked, according to NBC News. 

Other websites had been targeted in DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks Tuesday but weren’t pushed offline, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, WAPT-TV in Jackson reported. 

Michael Watson is Mississippi’s secretary of state. 
(ms.sos.gov)

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The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office website was down for several hours Tuesday due to hackers. 
(sos.ms.gov)

“We have been chatting with them for the last several hours, working with some of the vendors to put the mitigations in place,” the agency told reporters Tuesday evening. “And so I’m hoping that that’s going to be mitigated here in the next couple of hours. We’ve been working directly with them.”

The website was back online by 7:30 p.m. local time. 

The attack is the largest “sustained” one in the U.S., the CISA said, according to WAPT-TV. 

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The office didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s after-hours request for comment.