The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are warning in a joint alert that hackers have penetrated U.S. government networks and accessed election systems.
CISA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, said it does not have evidence that the integrity of elections data was compromised and "it does not appear these targets are being selected because of their proximity to elections information."
But it warned that election system data could be compromised and there is evidence that nation-state actors are among the hackers who have penetrated U.S. systems, Fox News reported.
CISA noted "there are steps that election officials, their supporting … IT staff, and vendors can take to help defend against this malicious cyber activity."
Hackers, CISA said, targeted federal and state, local, tribal, and territorial government networks, critical infrastructure and elections organizations.
In a statement to Fox News, Tenable, a cybersecurity company, said patches "are available for all of the vulnerabilities referenced in the joint cybersecurity advisory from CISA and the FBI."
"Most of the vulnerabilities had patches available for them following their disclosure."
The government didn't name the bad actors but called them "advanced persistent threat actors," a term often reserved for state-sponsored hacking groups, Fox News said.
Microsoft’s Security Intelligence team said that in September it detected Russian, Chinese and Iranian actors targeting the 2020 U.S. elections.
"The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the U.S. government and others have reported," Microsoft said at the time.
The tech giant cited a statement by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina.
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