Collaborate Disseminate
A filing accuses county election officials of withholding records related to unauthorized copying of voting software by Trump allies in 2021.
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The Election Assistance Commission on Wednesday voted to adopt the first comprehensive update to its voting system security guidelines in more than 15 years, concluding a lengthy process that ended with a mixed reception from some election security experts. The security community largely greeted the update as a security upgrade to standards that most states rely upon at least partially for their own equipment testing and certification. A significant number of academics, activists and even some in Congress, though, voiced displeasure in particular for how the so-called Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 would handle wireless connections on voting systems. The update stands to shape the next generation of voting systems that election vendors produce for use around the country during a period of sinking trust in the electoral process. Regardless, the more than five-year drafting process and resulting EAC vote won’t immediately transform election security because states, equipment manufacturers and […]
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Cybercriminals are chaining Microsoft’s Zerologon flaw with other exploits in order to infiltrate government systems, putting election systems at risk, a new CISA and FBI advisory warns. Continue reading Election Systems Under Attack via Microsoft Zerologon Exploits
A federal judge on Monday ordered polling places across Georgia to keep updated, backup paper records of eligible voters to avoid long lines and disenfranchisement on Election Day. The ruling is intended to prevent a repeat of the June primary election in Georgia, in which voting integrity groups say the malfunctioning of electronic pollbooks caused long waits at the polls. It comes as election officials across the country prepare for an unprecedented election marked by changes in procedure because of the coronavirus. The order from U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg instructs Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to “provide at least a modicum of the voting backup plan tools essential to protect” voters’ rights to cast a ballot. Civil society groups had sought the injunction after the difficulties in the primary. “It is not too late for [Raffensperger and other election officials] to take these reasonable concrete measures to mitigate […]
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That’s how Senator Wyden described the results of DefCon’s Voting Village, where all of 100 voting systems were easily picked apart by hackers. Continue reading Hacking 2020 voting systems is a ‘piece of cake’
That’s how Senator Wyden described the results of DefCon’s Voting Village, where all of 100 voting systems were easily picked apart by hackers. Continue reading Hacking 2020 voting systems is a ‘piece of cake’
Senators introduced a pair of bills Thursday that would crack down on foreign ownership of election systems in the U.S., as the government continues to try to mitigate supply chain risk. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., announced the Protect Our Elections Act and the Election Systems Integrity Act, both of which would set restrictions and reporting requirements around foreign ownership and operation of election systems. The former has bipartisan backing, with co-sponsorships from Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Cardin D-Md. The latter is also backed by Cardin and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The two bills overlap significantly in scope. Asked why they’re separate, a spokesperson for Van Hollen said that one deals with disclosure while the other would issue a ban. The Protect Our Elections Act would outlaw foreign ownership of election systems, specifically ones that deal with voting, tabulation, voter registration and communication systems for election agency. The bill would […]
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Continue reading Two bills seek transparency in ownership of election vendors
Several secretaries of state are telling the main backers of a Senate election security bill that the legislation might need tweaks to how it addresses information sharing, state-federal communication channels, funding mechanisms and post-election audits, among other things. The secretaries, who are the top election officials in their states, met with bill sponsors James Lankford, R-Okla., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in person and via phone Monday to discuss the Secure Elections Act. The legislation is intended to bolster election security by smoothing out coordination between the state and federal levels and providing states financial support for operations and equipment upgrades. State secretaries from Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado and New Mexico participated in the meeting. A spokesperson for Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson said that the secretary suggested quicker intelligence reporting to states. Among the ways the Department of Homeland Security is currently coordinating with states is by sponsoring security clearances for state election officials to review information about […]
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State election officials from all 50 states are to receive classified briefings from intelligence officials Friday and Sunday about threats to election security. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced on Thursday that it will hold the briefings in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI “as part of an ongoing effort to ensure the integrity and security of the nation’s election infrastructure.” The briefings coincide with annual conferences for the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors being held through the weekend in Washington, D.C. Since the 2016 presidential election, lawmakers have been calling on the intelligence community to expedite the security clearance process for state election officials in order for them to review information about election threats. Several bills have been introduced in Congress in recent months with involvement from both parties that would set requirements around this issue. The […]
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Continue reading ODNI holds classified briefings on election security for all 50 states
The Department of Homeland Security is promising to better coordinate with state and local government officials in efforts to defend election systems from hackers in the upcoming 2018 congressional campaign season. The pledge, by acting Secretary Elaine Duke, comes after a chaotic 2016 cycle which saw hackers probe and in some cases breach voter registration databases in multiple states. There is no publicly available evidence to suggest that election results were significantly altered as a result of these intrusions. Duke spoke Wednesday on Capitol Hill alongside FBI Director Christopher Wray and Nicholas Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, in a congressional hearing focused on existing homeland security threats. At one point, lawmakers pressed Duke and Wray to answer how their individual agencies were preparing for possible cyberattacks against election systems in the coming year — especially those that could go further and potentially impact voting tallies. Duke highlighted the role DHS […]
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