DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's Web site was attacked Monday, Oct. 20, leading to the site being left with limited functionality.

The office said the cyber attack is the latest in a string of recent harassing efforts to disrupt the election. The Ohio State Highway Patrol will assist with an investigation of the website and other security breaches detected by the Secretary of State.

The office said that in recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death.

Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State's office via the previous location of the Client Services Center.

These incidents are also under investigation.

Secretary of State spokesman Kevin Kidder characterized the attack as a "breach" of security, adding that there's no indication the attacker obtained any confidential information.

Late in the afternoon, a stripped down version of the site was online with a message saying it was "down for maintenance," but that the Secretary of State's office was "still fully functional."

"The Web site has been breached," Kidder said. "We're checking it out. I'm not quite sure what happened. We're finding out right now. We're not going anywhere."

By 5:15 p.m., a new message was posted on the Web site stating: "Due to security concerns experienced by the Secretary of State's Web site, full functionality of the Web site has been suspended to protect the integrity of state records and data. Full functionality will be restored when we are assured that all data has been protected and restored to acceptable levels of security."

"Our focus is and has always been to protect the vote of every eligible Ohio voter from any kind of fraud, be it voter registration fraud, illegal voting or vote suppression. This action has been taken to detect and prosecute any illegal breach of our voting infrastructure to maintain voter confidence," said Secretary Brunner.

The Secretary of State said the office will continue to "work in the best interest of Ohio voters and the boards of elections as we continue our preparation for a successful election."