DHS: Cybersecurity Worries at the Polls Remain Low

A Department of Homeland Security official has announced that cybersecurity worries have been low throughout Election Day, according to The Hill.

“We’ve been at cruising altitude for a while now, and things have been fairly quiet across the county, but we are not going to let our guard down, we are coming in for landing,” the official, who works for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told reporters on a press call.

“Polls are closing, and it’s creating a whole new attack surface,” the official said.

DHS has been keeping a lookout for election breaches on Election Day. CISA launched a 24/7 virtual control room to direct communications with elections officials throughout the country. 

“Through the situational awareness room, through the constant contact with state and local IT security folks, we are seeing things in real time,” the senior CISA official said. “Metrically, we are not seeing an increase, but we are seeing things much faster and closer to real time.”

The official cautioned during an earlier press call Tuesday that malicious cyber activity could still adversely affect the vote count well into December as states worked to certify election results.

“The attack surface for disinformation and other foreign interference efforts extends well into the next month or two. There is no spiking the football here. We are acutely focused on the mission at hand,” the official told reporters. “We are aggressively looking for any activity that could interfere with the election, and that is going to be our mission for the foreseeable future.”

• Iran Accused of Hacking US Voter Data Before Election Day
• Tech Problems, Disinformation Threaten to Undermine Faith in Election