Hacker Attempting to Breach Federal Election Commission Systems Forced Agency to Temporarily Shut Down Filing Services, per Reuters
A hacker is attempting to breach the US Federal Election Commission's systems, and the agency has had to temporarily shut down, per 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," an FEC electronic filing officer wrote in a Monday night email to several campaign compliance firms, according to an email seen by Reuters.
The disruption hit the agency's electronic filing system a week before the November 3 elections.
What Went Offline, and When
A status message posted by the FEC said its filing system had been down since around 10 p.m. ET on Monday.
In a statement, the FEC said that, "at this time, the FEC's electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service."
The agency declined further comment on the outage, per Reuters.
Users could still search the website for past reports, the FEC said. Campaign finance data searches and PDFs of existing reports remained available, while online filing submissions were blocked.
The outage prevents organizations from filing the FEC's 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions to the FEC, per Reuters. The FBI did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Why the Timing Matters
The November 3 midterms will determine whether President Donald Trump's Republicans maintain their majorities in Congress for the next two years.
The FEC does not play a role in administering US elections, and the outage should have no effect on voters' ability to cast ballots, per Reuters. The agency tracks the spending of candidates and political committees and enforces federal campaign finance law.
That disclosure role matters most in the final week, when late spending is heaviest.
"I've never seen this in 26 years," said Steven Mele, president and CEO at political finance compliance firm MBA Consulting Group, per Reuters. "The result is there will be less disclosure on the elections" until it is fixed.
A Record-Spending Cycle Goes Dark at the Peak
The midterms are now the most expensive US election in history, with roughly $11.21 billion spent on advertising and future reservations so far, according to political ad tracker AdImpact, per Reuters.
That surpassed the previous record set in the 2024 elections, when $11.2 billion was spent on all races, including $3.2 billion on the presidential race, AdImpact said.
Super PACs and dark money groups have spent an average of over $50 million per day over the last week, said Brendan Glavin, research director at nonpartisan campaign watchdog group OpenSecrets, per Reuters. More than $250 million in spending was reported on October 20 alone, he added.
"It's a big deal," Glavin said of the outage. "These are the key reports that tell us what is happening."
"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, he said.
Reuters did not report that the FEC had named who was behind the attempt, and the agency's public statement did not give a restoration timeline.
What It Means for Markets
Election-week cyber incidents tend to lift the cybersecurity complex first, as traders price in more federal and campaign security spending.
CRWD and PANW are the two large cybersecurity names that most often see flow spikes on government breach headlines.
The broader election risk runs through SPY. With control of Congress decided on November 3 and a key disclosure system offline in the final week, hedging demand and implied volatility into election day are the cleaner market tells than any single FEC headline.
The Bottom Line
Voting itself is not affected, but the public's window into last-minute election money is.
Until the FEC restores electronic filing, the 24-hour and 48-hour reports that reveal who is spending, and where, in the most expensive election in US history will not be filed on time.
Want to watch how election and cybersecurity headlines move CRWD, PANW and SPY into November 3? Create a free Unusual Whales account here and start conquering the market.