NBC News reports exclusively that U.S. officials believe Russian operatives were able to access voting systems in seven states during the 2016 election.
Three senior intelligence officials told NBC News that the intelligence community believed the states as of January 2017 were Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.
The officials say systems in the seven states were compromised in a variety of ways, with some breaches more serious than others, from entry into state websites to penetration of actual voter registration databases.
While officials in Washington informed several of those states in the run-up to the election that foreign entities were probing their systems, none were told the Russian government was behind it, state officials told NBC News.
NBC makes it clear, however, that all state and federal officials interviewed agree Russian operatives did not change votes or tamper with the voter rolls. In addition, six of the seven states do not believe they even were compromised.
It's a discrepancy that underscores how unprepared some experts think America is for the next wave of Russian interference that intelligence officials say is coming.
(...)
While numerous state election officials told NBC News that the Department of Homeland Security has been stepping up communications with them, many say they're worried they are still not getting enough information from Washington.
Illinois itself had detected a "malicious cyberattack" on its voter registration system in the summer of 2016 and reported it to DHS, saying its voter rolls had been accessed but nothing had been altered. It is the only state to acknowledge actual compromise.
Full story: U.S. intel: Russia ‘compromised’ seven states prior to 2016 election (NBC News)