Category Archives: election systems

DHS, election officials begin work to protect voting systems ahead of 2018 elections

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As the U.S. government takes early steps to roll out a collaborative cybersecurity framework designed to protect election systems, the pressure is now on state election officials and the Department of Homeland Security to hash out the details in less than two years. Over the weekend, DHS shared how the government plans to implement the designation of election systems as “critical infrastructure,” an important categorization announced during the Obama administration that effectively allocates additional resources and defenses to related systems. A rough draft of this strategy was described in a meeting with state election officials, the FBI and the Election Assistance Commission over the weekend. The plan has four objectives: information sharing, collaboration, threat and risk analysis, and ensuring that states have appropriately updated defense systems, according to Politico. Matthew Masterson, EAC Chair, said that the timeliness of DHS’s plan appeared to be the primary concerns for state election officials who […]

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Cybersecurity doubts may spook voters in future elections

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A new poll says growing concerns over cybersecurity could lead to millions of Americans staying home during the 2018 midterm elections and the subsequent 2020 presidential election. More than one in four American voters will consider not voting in upcoming elections due to concerns over cybersecurity, according to a new poll published Wednesday by the U.S. cybersecurity firm Carbon Black. That’s a jump of nearly ten percentage points from last year’s poll. The doubts are sharpest when it comes to the ability of state and local election authorities to defend against a cyberattack. Less than half of voters (45 percent) trust local authorities on cybersecurity, a number reflecting last month’s report that “election-related systems in 21 states that were targeted” by Russian hackers during the 2016 presidential election. Yet, less than half (47 percent) of American voters believed the 2016 election was influenced by foreign entities. That’s a sharp break with the U.S. intelligence community, but is […]

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State election officials resisted federal cybersecurity assistance during 2016 election

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State and local election authorities resisted federal cybersecurity assistance during 2016, President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary told lawmakers Wednesday. As attacks against election targets because increasingly visible in 2016, Jeh Johnson, who was secretary into early 2017, floated the idea of designating election infrastructure as critical infrastructure, making it a top security priority for DHS and give it the benefit of domestic and international cybersecurity protections. “To my disappointment, the reaction to a critical infrastructure designation, at least from those who spoke up, ranged from neutral to negative,” Johnson said. ” Those who expressed negative views stated that running elections in this country was the sovereign and exclusive responsibility of the states, and they did not want federal intrusion, a federal takeover, or federal regulation of that process. This was a profound misunderstanding of what a critical infrastructure designation would mean, which I tried to clarify for them.” A a critical infrastructure designation […]

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Top Democrat wants ‘full scope’ of foreign hacking against election systems publicly disclosed

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Mark Warner, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, wants the Department of Homeland Security to publicly disclose “the full scope” of foreign hacking of state and local election systems, the Virginian wrote in a letter today to DHS Secretary John Kelly. The Intelligence panel will hold an open hearing Wednesday on Russian hacking against U.S. targets. Experts from the DHS, FBI, Illinois State Board of Elections, the National Association of State Election Directors and election cybersecurity expert J. Alex Halderman will testify. “While I am not aware of evidence that the 2016 voting process itself was subjected to manipulation, and have no reason to doubt the validity of the election results, we know that the DHS and FBI have confirmed two intrusions into voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois by foreign-based hackers, though no data was modified or deleted.” Warner wrote in a letter to Kelly. “At the same time, there was suspicious activity aimed […]

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After 2016 election hacking, Illinois politicians pose cybersecurity questions to local officials

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Nearly a year after Illinois election boards were targeted in a monthlong cyberattack, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and state Sen. Michael E. Hastings want the state’s local election authorities to assess the state’s election-system cybersecurity. The two Democrats are asking questions about what might have been hacked and how local election officials responded. The letter not only dives into the specifics of Illinois cybersecurity but also asks how federal and state agencies can assist in protecting the election system at all levels. The inquiry comes as the the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold an open hearing June 21 to examine U.S. election security for the 2018 and 2020 elections and to assess Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. Experts from the DHS, FBI, Illinois State Board of Elections, the National Association of State Election Directors and election cybersecurity expert J. Alex Halderman will testify. Last year, the personal information of as many as 90,000 voters […]

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Leaked NSA hacking report ratchets up pressure on local election officials

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Despite new evidence from a leaked NSA report that Russian hackers sought to compromise state and local election technology, the officials in charge are still vigorously opposing the federal designation of their polling systems as critical infrastructure. “It’s unclear how this situation would change anyone’s opinions about the [critical infrastructure] designation,” Kay Stimson of the National Association of Secretaries of State told CyberScoop. NASS represents the state-level officials responsible for tabulating election results. Stimson added that officials didn’t get any additional resources to defend their networks as a result of the January 2017 announcement by the Department of Homeland Security, which many saw as a federal power grab. Federal officials have stressed that state or local participation in any DHS programs is voluntary, and suggested that DHS expertise might be able to help election officials secure themselves against online attacks. Stimson said officials had asked DHS for a briefing about the leaked information. The document, leaked […]

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Election-systems cybersecurity would take a hit under new House bill, experts say

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Legislation recently introduced in the House that seeks to terminate the Election Assistance Commission, or EAC, would hamper coordination efforts between state and federal officials at a time when cybersecurity concerns are top of mind, experts tell CyberScoop. The bill, H.R. 634, would effectively gut what is considered to be one of the only organized bodies […]

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Election-systems cybersecurity would take a hit under new House bill, experts say

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Legislation recently introduced in the House that seeks to terminate the Election Assistance Commission, or EAC, would hamper coordination efforts between state and federal officials at a time when cybersecurity concerns are top of mind, experts tell CyberScoop. The bill, H.R. 634, would effectively gut what is considered to be one of the only organized bodies […]

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