In a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson penned Thursday, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp explained a failed bid to penetrate the firewall guarding state computer systems on November 15 'was linked to an IP address associated with DHS,' the Wall Street Journal reports.

"I am writing to ask you whether DHS was aware of this attempt and, if so, why DHS was attempting to breach our firewall," Kemp wrote.

"At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network. Moreover, your Department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network. This is especially odd and concerning since I serve on the Election Cyber Security Working Group that your office created."