Hackers target US campaign finance system days before midterm elections

Hackers reportedly targeted the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) website, forcing a temporary suspension of its online services days before the November 3 midterm elections. The outage prevents organisations from filing 24- and 48-hour campaign spending reports. The FEC said on Tuesday that the issue had been identified and a fix was being implemented; Democratic Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum clarified that voter files and registration systems, which are maintained by states, were not affected. The incident comes as midterm election advertising spending has reached about $11.21bn, according to AdImpact.