State and federal law enforcement pursue foreign interference in 2024 election from Russia, Iran and other actors

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

“It’s the usual actors, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, who might try to ferment the division through disinformation, with cyber attacks,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said.

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

“You know, Chuck, it’s about sharing information, making sure that everybody in the federal, state and local law enforcement structure is talking to each other and that we can respond appropriately and make sure that this is a process sure and sure week to come as the election goes on,” Kelly said.

In 2016, Illinois voter databases were breached by Russian intelligence and several hundred thousand voter personal files were breached. Since then, the state has spent millions of dollars to prevent a repeat.

The foreign actors did not give in. Cybersecurity experts at suburban Lewis University told the I-Team that foreign attack attempts against American targets have increased in recent months.

“They’re monitoring and seeing, you know, day by day, even hour by hour, you know, 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 vote or vote count is the less likely threat, though, one for which we are armed and prepared. Yes. Misinformation, I would say, would be much worse because a very low barrier to entry,” he said.

At FBI headquarters in Chicago, the Office of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Counterintelligence Team assists with coordination at the federal level. A recent alert showed fake media sites that investigators say are linked to the Kremlin.

“It’s a global environment that we all live in, everything is connected, especially when it comes to cyber security. And while Iran may be dealing with Israel, its hackers and cyber threat actors still have the ability to operate in that environment. Russia may be dealing with Ukraine, but that doesn’t mean Russia is going to be able to step up in terms of their cyber activity and their overall motivation to try to ferment a division in the United States.” Kelly said.

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

But with what Kelly calls an “increased threat environment,” there’s also a plan for what may happen the day after the election.