Armenian CEC says election system came under powerful cyberattack

The information system of Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) came under a powerful cyberattack on June 7, the day of the country’s parliamentary elections, CEC Chairman Vaagn Hovakimyan said on September 17.

“The tabulation of the voting results displayed on the CEC website did not stop for a single minute. In other words, the entire process continued uninterrupted,” Hovakimyan said.

He said the CEC had been required to inform parliament about the cyberattack and the measures taken to counter it.

“But there was one circumstance about which I must also inform parliament: particularly during the vote tabulation phase, our system was, so to speak, under a powerful cyberattack,” Hovakimyan said.

According to the CEC chairman, the commission’s specialists worked alongside Armenia’s leading cybersecurity experts and international partner experts to prevent and repel the attacks while the election process was underway.

“And the CEC, our specialists, the best cybersecurity specialists in the Republic of Armenia, including international partner experts, were simultaneously engaged in preventing and repelling virtual attacks,” he said.

By Tamilla Hasanova