U.S. Government Reveals Which 21 States Russia Targeted During 2016 Election

Minnesota was one of 21 states whose election systems were targeted by Russian-affiliated hackers before last year's elections, the federal government revealed Friday.

"Entities acting at the behest of the Russian government" made the hacking attempt in the period leading up to the 2016 election, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement. The revelation came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

State computers recognized the IP addresses that scanned the system and blocked them, so the breach attempt was foiled.

Last year, the federal government told the Associated Press that hackers thought to be Russian agents had targeted more than 20 states before the 2016 elections. Friday's calls from Homeland Security to election officials in 21 states were the first official confirmations of the affected states.

"This afternoon I received a phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security informing me of its determination that Minnesota was among 21 states targeted," wrote Simon, who has overseen a number of security updates to Minnesota's election system. "DHS confirmed to my office that there was no breach and no attempt to breach Minnesota's election system."

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