Hackers Targeted Fec Website, Officer Says, Disrupting Spending Filings a Week Before US Elections

An FEC officer reported an attempted breach of agency systems as electronic spending filings were disrupted a week before the 3 November US elections, according to an email seen by Reuters. The interruption blocked mandatory reports detailing political spending on specific races.

Campaign finance officers had been unable to submit required reports late on Monday before the Federal Election Commission posted an outage notice. The agency tracks spending by candidates and political committees, with disclosure taking on particular importance during the final days of congressional races.

The elections will determine whether President Donald Trump's Republicans retain their majorities in Congress for the next two years. The FEC does not administer US elections, and the outage should have no effect on voters' ability to cast ballots.

FEC Website Officer Describes Breach Attempt

An FEC electronic filings officer described the reason for the shutdown in an email to several campaign compliance firms on Monday night, according to Reuters.

'We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems. As a result, we've had to temporarily shut down our web facing services,' the officer wrote.

The FEC's public statement confirmed the interruption without providing further details about its cause. The agency stated, 'at this time, the FEC's electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service.'

The agency confirmed that users could still search its website for past reports and declined further comment on the outage. Its status notice placed the beginning of the interruption at around 10 p.m. ET on Monday, or 0200 GMT on Tuesday.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions to the FEC. The FBI did not immediately return messages seeking comment, Reuters reported.

FEC Website Outage Restricts Spending Disclosure

The interruption prevents organisations from submitting the FEC's 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which detail expenditure on specific races. Previously filed reports remain searchable, but the missing submissions restrict access to newer spending information.

Steven Mele, president and CEO of political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group, described the disruption in comments reported by Reuters.

'I've never seen this in 26 years,' he stated. 'The result is there will be less disclosure on the elections' until the system is restored.

The timing matters because super PACs and dark money groups are spending heavily as the races approach their final days. Super PACs can accept unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals and corporations and spend on campaigns with few restrictions.

FEC Website Disruption Coincides With Record Spending

Political advertising tracker AdImpact put spending on advertising and future reservations at roughly $11.21 billion (£8.4 billion), describing the midterms as the most expensive US election in history. Its comparison was with $11.2 billion (£8.4 billion) spent across all races in 2024, including $3.2 billion (£2.4 billion) on the presidential contest between Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Brendan Glavin, research director at nonpartisan campaign watchdog OpenSecrets, reported average spending of more than $50 million (£37.5 million) a day by super PACs and dark money groups over the preceding week. More than $250 million (£187.4 million) was reported on 20 October alone, he added.

'These are the key reports that tell us what is happening,' Glavin stated. 'In the last days of the election this is the only way for us to keep track of where the money's being spent' and who is spending it.