Security News > 2020 > October > 75% of all 56 US states and territories show signs of vulnerable election IT infrastructure, report finds
SecurityScorecard released a report earlier this month that looked through the overall cybersecurity posture of all 56 US states and territories leading up to the presidential election.
The study found that 75% of all states and territories had IT infrastructures that are vulnerable to a variety of cyberattacks.
"One of the biggest problems with that report is that when you look at a network the size of the state of Utah, that all of the people we provide services for, election related infrastructure is a very, very tiny piece of that. That election infrastructure is segmented away and firewalled away from the rest of the network assets that we have out there," Bates said.
Including Georgia, New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida, Iowa and Ohio had scores in the 70s and 60s. "The IT infrastructure of state governments should be of critical importance to securing election integrity. This is especially true in 'battleground states' where the Department of Homeland Security, political parties, campaigns, and state government officials should enforce vigilance through continuously monitoring state voter registration networks and web applications for the purpose of mitigating incoming attacks from malicious actors," said Alex Heid, chief research and development officer at SecurityScorecard.
"Massachusetts rates last in endpoint security with nearly 2,000 outdated operating system findings. Illinois comes in second-lowest with over 1,000 findings. Outdated software is vulnerable against the latest security threats, making it easier for attackers to deploy malware, either via a drive-by-download attack or spear-phishing attack," the report said, adding that states can easily fix this by updating web browsers and operating systems to the latest available versions.