PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office is calling for more funding for security after its elections website was a victim of a cyberattack, likely from Iran.
Officials say attackers uploaded a secret code disguised as an image in the website’s candidate portal on June 23. The next day, they replaced the candidates’ photos on the election results page with “politically charged imagery,” including photos of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the former Supreme Leader of Iran.
Investigators, because of that photo choice, the attackers were likely state-aligned or state-sympathetic to Iran.
But SOS staff detected the attack early enough that it minimized its impact, investigators said.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is calling for $10 million for cybersecurity upgrades, with $3.5 million in annual funding to modernize and secure Arizona’s digital infrastructure, a spokesperson said.
The Secretary of State’s Office said it repeatedly has requested money to upgrade the legacy security system but hasn’t been approved. “Without that funding, we risk future breaches that could have far more severe consequences, including erosion of public trust in democratic institutions,” the spokesperson said.
State Rep. Nick Kupper, a Republican from Surprise, sent a letter on Monday to Fontes, requesting an in-person briefing about the cyberattack for all Arizona lawmakers. “Arizona’s election systems should never be this easy a target for foreign adversaries,” Rep. Kupper said in an email. “This wasn’t a prank — it was a politically motivated act of cyberwarfare, and we deserve answers. Every legislator has a responsibility to understand what happened and what’s being done to keep it from happening again.”
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