America’s cybersecurity defenses are cracking
TL;DR
Arizona's political candidate portal was hacked by an Iranian group, replacing photos with images of Ayatollah Khomeini. State officials contained the threat without federal help, and no voter data was compromised.
It was late June, and something strange was happening on Arizona's online portal for political candidates. Images of the candidates were disappearing. Photos of the Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were popping up in their place. The state would later come to believe it was an attack from an Iranian government-affiliated group. When they first discovered the threat, though, they were in the dark - and they needed help.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' office took action to contain the threat, which he says did not impact personal voter information. But one thing he didn't do was contact the federal agency that would have once be …