Russian-based hacking attacks have heightened concerns over the vulnerability of U.S. voter registration databases –– but local election officials aren’t concerned with such incidents happening here.

“Our statewide system for voter registration is under the care and direction of the Department of State and they continue to take measures to assure the security of that system,” McKean County Elections Director Dinah Gallegos told The Era on Thursday.

The state has security and procedures in place, said Elk County Elections and Voter Registration Director Kim Frey, and counties and the Department of State have been taking extra precautions, said Sandra Lewis, director of the Potter County Voter Registration/Elections Office.

Comments from Gallegos, Frey and Lewis come just months before the general election, which pits Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State, against Republican candidate and businessman and television personality Donald Trump.

“In recent weeks, there has been talk about vulnerabilities in the nation’s election infrastructure,” state Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortés said in a prepared statement. “Our election staff is working closely with federal and state experts to implement all available strategies to strengthen security.”

Russian spy agencies have been attributed to unsuccessfully attacking the Arizona voter registration system through the use of malicious software, while hackers breached the data system in Illinois, one news source stated. In the latter case, thousands and thousands of voter records have been compromised, about 90,000, another source reported.

“The Department has since been in touch with the DHS (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) cyber security team to look at ways they can be of assistance in Pennsylvania,” said Deputy Secretary of Elections and Administration Marian K. Schneider. “We have had conversations with Homeland Security regarding the services they could provide before November. Our goal is to proactively take any steps possible to make sure that Pennsylvania’s statewide election infrastructure is as secure as possible.”

Meanwhile, Frey said she is not concerned with the voter machines being hacked into. The machines, which are not hooked up to the internet, have been used in the county for 10 years.

“We will continue to follow the same protocol and procedures we have been since I have been here,” Gallegos said.

The Department of State has never allowed precinct voting systems to be hooked up to the internet, and such a prohibition will continue, Schneider said.

Also, state officials are preparing an updated directive for counties that will cover good cyber security practices for elections, including isolating computers from networks, strict password and privilege management, best practices for preparing voting systems and transmitting election night returns, and pre-election logic and accuracy testing.

“Most of the information in the directive has been communicated to the counties in the past, but this will serve as a refresher and will gather all the information in one document,” Schneider said.

The federal Office of Administration’s Chief Information Security Office regularly works with the Department of Homeland Security’s security liaison to monitor threats and respond appropriately.

“The Enterprise Information Security Office is taking all possible steps to guard the Commonwealth’s systems, including the voter registration database, and to defend the Commonwealth against cyber attacks, reduce its vulnerabilities and minimize the damage and recovery time from any attacks, if they occur,” state officials said in a news release.

McKean County has 13,694 registered Republicans and 7,176 registered Democrats; overall, the county has 24,100 total registered voters. In neighboring Elk County, the Democrats total 9,523 and Republicans, 8,076. All told, the county has 19,756 registered voters. Potter County has 6,823 Republicans, 2,843 Democrats and 1,087 people part of other parties. The numbers for Cameron County were not immediately available, and the elections director did not return an email seeking comment.