Brendan Ryan
Summary: This is relevant to the defense and security division because it involves the protection of our electoral process and the personal data of US voters. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency must combat cyber threats by being proactive and mitigating risks from foreign hackers. Additionally, American citizens can protect themselves by doing political research and being aware of cyber campaigns seeking to disrupt and distract the voting process.
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A hot topic of discussion during the previous two American presidential elections, cyber threats and voter security are poised to be even more consequential in this upcoming November election cycle. The recent shift towards a digitized election process has brought numerous benefits for those looking to register to vote or are unable to get to the polls on election day. Furthermore, campaigns and Political Action Committees have a quicker way of accessing their voting base, managing funds and boosting outreach. However, this digitization has brought with it a great magnitude of risk and concerns regarding the security of personal data of the American citizenry. Understanding and mitigating these threats will be imperative for re-establishing voter security, reducing foreign influence and harboring the fairest election possible.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) admits that despite the numerous benefits, modern electoral processes are increasingly at risk of cyberattacks, particularly from foreign actors seeking to influence and disrupt American politics. Voter databases are easier to access than ever and contain personal information ranging from address and phone number to donation history. Furthermore, the IFES notes that perpetrators may seek to alter vote counts via Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Russia, who’s efforts to disrupt American elections is well documented, was guilty of a DDoS attack on Ukraine’s elections in 2014. By planting malware on Ukraine’s Central Election Committee servers just four days before the election, they were able to alter the vote tallying system – which displayed the tally as in favor of a pro-Russian candidate.
Russian perpetrators are far from the only threat that the United States’ electoral system will face this upcoming November. A DOJ press release from November 2021 details an indictment against two Iranian nationals charged with involvement in a cyber campaign, called “The Voter Intimidation and Influence Campaign” which was an attempt to undermine and compromise voters during the 2020 presidential election. With some of the electorate’s confidence in election integrity already being shaken, cyber campaigns have the power to erode election structure and pit voters against each other. These attacks can be carried out on a very wide scale and have the power to affect Americans regardless of location, income, or party affiliation.
Chinese hackers have also ramped up their efforts to attack American infrastructure. Cyberterrorists affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party have been waging campaigns to infiltrate computer networks of critical industries, including manufacturing, transportation and more. A Wall Street Journal article from late January 2024 quotes director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Jen Easterly describing China’s activity thus far as “likely just the tip of the iceberg”. With November approaching fast, there’s little doubt that additional hacking and disruption attempts focused on election information systems will come from Beijing.
It's imperative that American citizens are wary of the possibility of a cyber-attack being carried out on them at any moment. The months leading up to an election are always extremely tense, filled with volumes of media content designed to influence voters one way or the other. Using trusted media sources for political research, as well as recognizing and avoiding phishing emails from false campaigns or other entities can go a long way in preventing intimidation schemes.
While personal records are governed by each state, every American can and should take these precautions. With Joe Biden and Donald Trump likely to be the two frontrunning candidates once again, more misinformation will be available than ever, and campaigns will look to gain any advantage possible. Russian, Iranian, and Chinese entities are aware of this, and will seek to destroy the American voting machine and undermine the planet’s longest-standing democratic electoral process.