State and federal law enforcement agencies are monitoring foreign interference in the 2024 election from Russia, Iran and other actors

CHICAGO (WLS) — For the Illinois State Police and federal law enforcement agencies, election security is a real-time, complicated and expensive effort to ensure an uninterrupted and unimpaired voting process.

Authorities say Illinois and other Midwestern states are attractive targets for foreign disruptors to sow chaos and create instability on Election Day.

They know this because it has happened before.

“There are the usual actors, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, who can try to sow division with misinformation and with cyber attacks,” said Brendan Kelly, director of the Illinois State Police.

Kelly told the I-Team that ISP has unleashed a series of defensive tactics to prevent such attacks. The Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center, known as the STIC in Springfield, Illinois, is the front line against overseas attacks during the 2024 election.

“You know, Chuck, the bottom line is sharing information, making sure that everyone within the law enforcement structure at the federal, state, and local level is all talking to each other, and that we can respond appropriately and make sure this is a good matter. safe process and a safe week when the election takes place,” Kelly said.

In 2016, voter databases in Illinois were breached by Russian intelligence services and hundreds of thousands of personal voter files were breached. Since then, the state has spent millions of dollars to prevent a recurrence.

Foreign actors have not given up. Cybersecurity experts at suburban Lewis University told the I-Team that foreign attack attempts against U.S. targets have increased in recent months.

“They’re monitoring and they’re seeing, you know, day after day, even hour after hour, so many attempted attacks,” said Professor Jason Perry, director of Cybersecurity and IT Programs at Lewis University.

“The likelihood of an attacker directly hacking the ballot or vote count is the lower likelihood of a threat, even though we are armed and ready. Yes. The misinformation would, I would say, be much more serious because it has a very low barrier to entry,” he said.

At FBI Headquarters in Chicago, the bureau’s cyber and counterintelligence team helps coordinate federally. A recent alert revealed fake media sites that investigators say are linked to the Kremlin.

“It is a global environment in which we all live, everything is interconnected, especially in the field of cyber security. And while Iran may be dealing with Israel, their hackers and cyber threat actors they are behind still have the ability to operate in that environment. Russia may have to deal with Ukraine, but that doesn’t mean Russia is going to take its foot off the gas pedal in terms of their cyber activities and their just overall motivation to try to sow division in the United States,” Kelly said.

He said success will be measured when foreign interference is blocked, voting takes place without any disruption and results are counted quickly and accurately.

But with what Kelly calls a “heightened threat environment,” there is also a plan for what could happen the day after the election.