Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 1 hr ago
Hackers Target Federal Election Commission Website, Filing System Goes Offline
Hackers targeted the U.S. Federal Election Commission’s website, and its electronic filing system is offline.
The outage began Monday night, and the agency’s IT staff are working to restore service.
The FEC does not run elections; states do, and the outage is not reported to affect vote counts.
Political groups use the system to file reports disclosing their donors, so delays could leave voters with less information about super PAC spending in the final days before the Nov.
3 midterms.
About $11.21 billion has been spent on ads in this election cycle, making it the most expensive in U.S. history, according to the article.
When the filing system will return is unclear, so the timing of any delayed disclosures is also uncertain.
The Federal Election Commission’s electronic filing system went offline after the agency said its systems were being targeted by a bad actor.
The outage is preventing political groups from filing some required campaign spending reports ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The FEC said its IT staff were working to restore service, but did not say when it would return.
The agency’s website remains available for searches of past reports, and the outage does not affect voters’ ability to cast ballots.
The 2026 midterms have seen roughly $11.21 billion spent on advertising and future reservations, according to AdImpact.
- Who
- The Federal Election Commission said a bad actor was attempting to breach its systems.
- What
- The FEC’s electronic filing system went offline, disrupting the filing of campaign finance reports.
- When
- It went down around 10 p.m. local time on Oct. 26. The midterm elections are scheduled for Nov. 3.
- Where
- The U.S. Federal Election Commission’s website and electronic filing system.
- Why
- The FEC said it temporarily shut down its web-facing services because of an attempted breach.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The FEC filing system went offline after the agency said it had to temporarily shut down web-facing services.
The FEC posted a status message saying the filing system was offline and staff were working to restore service.
The U.S. midterm elections are scheduled to take place.
- System
- FEC electronic filing system
- Outage began
- Around 10 p.m. local time on Oct. 26
- Election date
- Nov. 3
- Campaign spending
- Roughly US$11.21 billion on advertising and future reservations, according to AdImpact
- FEC role
- Tracks spending by candidates and political committees; does not administer elections
2 sources
What people are saying
We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems. As a result, we’ve had to temporarily shut down our web facing services
I’ve never seen this in 26 years
These are the key reports that tell us what is happening
our IT staff are actively working to restore service.