washington. part of the $380 million earmarked for election protection. illinois cut is just under 13 million. it sounds like they are a computer commando squad. yes. a front line of defense. they do risk assessment testing, spearfishing assessments. their job is to discover what vulnerabilities exist in the system. this program and the federal government assistance and the states persistence, and focusing on cyber protections of our elections, is really open up the doors for us to detect , protect and defend our apparatus of elections. less than 10 percent of states took advantage of the federal funding at first. more are signing on. they recognize like those here in illinois who experienced the hacking, that cyber threats to the election system are very real. the illinois example is a great example of what is possible with additional federal money. elections security expert at the new york university brennan
presidential election illinois was hit by a foreign force, the russians. authorities say they preach the registration rolls. and 76,000 voters, 14,000 in galesburg. it was a wake-up call. reporter: the thicket of director of the illinois state board of elections. this was going to happen to us, it did and it could happen again. to face that threat the state created what it called the cyber navigator programs, specially trained computer experts called navigators on guard for election hacking across the state. at all, 102 counties, 24/seven. most of the funding comes from washington, $380 million earmarked for election protection. illinois s cut 13 million. the computer commando squad and the front line of defense,