In a joint advisory posted by the FBI and CISA, the government agencies said they had taken all necessary precautions to avoid any compromise of election infrastructure.
Saying that attackers need extra access to the systems and processes to hack them, the agencies said the backup measures they have in place in case of any disturbances. Also, they listed a bunch of tips for citizens to follow to avoid any type of election fraud.
Cyberattacks on US Election Infrastructure
With the elections approaching, the FBI and CISA have shared a new public service announcement (PSA) that’d boost the confidence of citizens in election infrastructure security.
The agencies have confidently mentioned that any cyberattacks targeted against election infrastructure are unlikely to cause any disruption or prevent voting, as they have assessed all the associated risks over time and seen no evidence of malicious interference to date.
Any attempts made on this course have been blocked or “successfully mitigated with minimal or no disruption to election processes,” wrote PSA. Supporting their promise, they said the election officials are empowered with a set of technological tools and strict procedural controls to mitigate potential cyberattacks, like phishing, DoS, domain spoofing, or ransomware attacks.
Further, they have a number of backup measures like provisional ballots, backup poll books, logic and accuracy testing on the voting systems, etc., to control the situation in case of any mishaps.
Saying that attackers need a range of access (including physical) to the election systems for hacking them, the agencies listed tips for citizens to avoid election-related fraud,
- Use official state and local government portals to source information about voter registration, polling locations, voting by mail, provisional ballot process, and final election results.
- Remain alert to election-related schemes which may attempt to impede election administration.
- Be wary of emails or phone calls that make suspicious claims about the election process or social media posts that appear to spread inconsistent information about election-related incidents or results.
- Do not respond to unsolicited email senders, open attachments from unknown individuals, or provide personal information via email.
- Verify through multiple, reliable sources any reports about compromises of voter information or
- voting systems, and avoid sharing such information via social media before checking.
- Be cautious with websites not affiliated with local or state government that solicit voting information,
- like voter registration information.
- Report potential crimes—such as cyber targeting of voting systems—to your local FBI Field Office.
- Report cyber-related incidents on election infrastructure to your local election officials and CISA ([email protected]).
