- The FBI and the CISA assess that any cyber attack attempts targeting the election system are unlikely to result in large-scale disruptions or prevent voting.
- The FBI and CISA stated that election officials are using a variety of technological, physical, and procedural controls to mitigate any malicious cyber activity.
- According to the announcement, all attempts have remained localized and were blocked or mitigated with minimal or no disruption.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency made a public service announcement related to the upcoming elections in the USA, stating that attempts to compromise election infrastructure are unlikely to result in large-scale disruptions or prevent voting. According to the announcement, all attempts have remained localized and were blocked or mitigated with minimal or no disruption to the election process.
Election infrastructure
The FBI and CISA stated that election officials are using a variety of technological, physical, and procedural controls to mitigate any malicious cyber activity that can affect the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of election infrastructure systems or data that would alter votes or otherwise disrupt or prevent voting. Some of them include failsafe measures, such as provisional ballots and backup pollbooks, and safeguards that protect against voting malfunctions.
The duo also continues to assess all attempts trying to manipulate votes at scale would be difficult to conduct undetected. The FBI and the CISA also issued the following recommendation:
- For information about registering to vote, polling locations, voting by mail, provisional ballot process, and final election results, rely on state and local government election officials.
- Remain alert to election-related schemes which may attempt to impede election administration.
- Be wary of emails or phone calls from unfamiliar email addresses or phone numbers that make suspicious claims about the election process or of social media posts that appear to spread inconsistent information about election-related incidents or results.
- Do not communicate with unsolicited email senders, open attachments from unknown individuals, or provide personal information via email without confirming the requester’s identity. Be aware that many emails requesting your personal information often appear to be legitimate.
- Verify through multiple, reliable sources any reports about compromises of voter information or voting systems, and consider searching for other reliable sources before sharing such information via social media or other avenues.
- Be cautious with websites not affiliated with local or the state government that solicit voting information, like voter registration information. Websites that end in “.gov” or websites you know are affiliated with your state or local election office are usually trustworthy. Be sure to know what your state and local elections office websites are in advance to avoid inadvertently providing your information to nefarious websites or actors.
- 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.
The FBI said,
« Election systems that house voter registration information or manage nonvoting election processes continue to be a target of interest for malicious threat actors. Cyber actors may also seek to spread or amplify false or exaggerated claims of cybersecurity compromises to election infrastructure; however, these attempts would not prevent voting or the accurate reporting of results.
The FBI and CISA will continue to quickly respond to any potential threats, provide recommendations to harden election infrastructure, notify stakeholders of threats and intrusion activity, and impose risks and consequences on cyber actors seeking to threaten U.S. elections. »