Security News
The U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency has released its cybersecurity plan for the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, outlining the agency's role as a facilitator that will assist federal, state and local agencies in protecting critical election infrastructure. CISA, a unit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will focus on protecting the election infrastructure as well as the infrastructure used by campaigns and political parties; making sure voters are protected from disinformation campaigns; and issuing warnings and responses related to foreign influence and hacking.
Only a week after the mobile app meltdown in Iowa's Democratic Caucus, computer scientists at MIT have revealed their analysis of the Voatz app used in West Virginia's 2018 midterm election. They claim the Android app is vulnerable to attacks that could undermine election integrity in the US state.
Elastic, the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack, is excited to announce that it will offer free monitored Elastic Endpoint Security to 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns in partnership with Defending Digital Campaigns. Elastic has partnered with Defending Digital Campaigns, a non-partisan organization that provides low- and no-cost security products and services to federal campaigns to help defend them from cyberattacks and election interference.
In the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the Obama administration struggled to respond to Russia's efforts to interfere with the voting process due, in part, to internal debates over concerns about confusing the public, according to a new U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report. The report released Thursday, "U.S. Government Response to Russian Activities," is the third volume based on the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the 2016 election and how Russia sought to interfere in the U.S. voting process.
The latest edition of the ISMG Security Report offers an analysis of the missteps that led to problems with the app used in this week's Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa. Also featured:...
YouTube is the latest social media firm to adjust its policies as the 2020 U.S. presidential election gets underway. On Monday, the company announced plans to remove misleading political content and other disinformation from its platform.
When state election officials gathered ahead of the last presidential election, major topics were voter registration, identity theft and ballot design. Election officials from 44 states joined officials with 11 federal agencies and representatives from more than a dozen voting technology companies to participate in the half-day exercise to help them keep votes secure.
THE THREAT. THEN: U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia was the only nation that significantly interfered in the 2016 election. CYBERSECURITY IN THE STATES. THEN: Before the 2016 election, state election offices were mostly focused on ensuring orderly elections and that voting-related equipment functioned properly.
King County voters will be able to use their name and birthdate to log in to a Web portal through the Internet browser on their phones, says Bryan Finney, the CEO of Democracy Live, the Seattle-based voting company providing the technology. Once voters have completed their ballots, they must verify their submissions and then submit a signature on the touch screen of their device.
The new guidelines, explained on a media call last Thursday and in a press release last Friday, say the FBI will notify a state's chief election official and other local election workers in the event of any cyberattack. "Understanding that mitigation of such incidents often hinges on timely notification, the FBI has established a new internal policy outlining how the FBI will notify state and local officials responsible for administering election infrastructure of cyber activity targeting their infrastructure," the FBI statement said.