Security News > 2022 > October > FBI, CISA aren't worried about cyber threats to US midterms

FBI, CISA aren't worried about cyber threats to US midterms
2022-10-06 17:30

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency claim any foreign interference in the 2022 US midterm elections is unlikely to disrupt or prevent voting, compromise ballot integrity or manipulate votes at scale.

Despite popular narratives in some political circles that the 2020 election was insecure and fraudulent, there hasn't been any evidence to suggest that, the FBI and CISA said in the PSA. The agencies also took the time to explain how US election systems are secured using "a variety of technological, physical, and procedural controls to mitigate the likelihood of malicious cyber activity" that could affect "Election infrastructure systems or data that would alter votes or otherwise disrupt or prevent voting."

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"Given the extensive safeguards in place and distributed nature of election infrastructure, the FBI and CISA continue to assess that attempts to manipulate votes at scale would be difficult to conduct undetected," the agencies said.

In short, when it comes to knowing what interference in election infrastructure looks like, the FBI and CISA want US citizens to know what they're looking for.

Those systems can be used to glean information about voters and let bad actors spread claims that election systems have been compromised, the FBI and CISA said, but noted that "These attempts would not prevent voting or the accurate reporting of results."


News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/10/06/us_election_cyber_threats_unlikely/