RNC, Arizona GOP request records from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over cybersecurity breach

The Republican National Committee and the Arizona Republican Party have requested records from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over a cybersecurity breach of his office.

The GOP submitted a public records request on Tuesday to Fontes' office after Fontes, a Democrat, announced earlier this month that the office's website suffered "malicious attempts to inappropriately access the Candidate Portal" in June. 

His office's Information Technology and Security teams "moved quickly to limit access to the systems in order to ensure they were protected from malicious actors."

"These attempts were investigated, our security controls tuned for similar attack patterns, and applicable threat intelligence was shared with our cybersecurity partners. The Arizona statewide voter registration database was not targeted and is unaffected by this event," Fontes' office said.

However, according to the GOP, "While the statement indicates that an attack was detected, investigated, and is continuing to be monitored, nowhere in the statement does the Secretary provide insight to the exact systems and data compromised, the origins of the attack, the remedial actions taken to mitigate the threat, or the current status of the affected system(s)."

Both the national and state Republican Party requested records for "all communications and documents related to the detection, response, and reporting of the breach, including materials from key officials in the Secretary of State’s office." They noted that the cyberattack was "reportedly linked to foreign adversary, possibly Iran, or another state like Russia or China acting as Iran."

“Arizonans deserve clear answers and reassurance that their election systems are secure,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement on Wednesday.

“A cyberattack on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website is a serious matter with national security implications. Secretary Fontes must be fully transparent about the origin of the attack, what systems were compromised, and what actions are being taken to mitigate the threat.”