Learn extra about election safety:
Potential ransomware assaults throughout the 2024 election cycle have been deemed unlikely to compromise the safety or accuracy of balloting or counting.
The information comes from a public service announcement (PSA) issued on August 15 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA).
The announcement underscored that, whereas ransomware assaults concentrating on state or native authorities networks might trigger short-term, localized delays, they might not have an effect on the integrity of voting methods.
Any profitable assaults on election infrastructure have to this point been reportedly contained with minimal disruption to operations and no impression on the safety or accuracy of poll casting or tabulation processes. The PSA highlighted the effectiveness of a multi-layered method to safety, which incorporates quite a lot of technological, bodily and procedural controls to safeguard the election course of.
Commenting on the information, FBI cyber division deputy assistant director, Cynthia Kaiser, emphasised that combating ransomware is a high precedence, notably throughout elections.
“Whereas the FBI will proceed to leverage its instruments and partnerships to fight cybercriminals, the general public ought to be conscious that ransomware is extraordinarily unlikely to have an effect on the integrity of voting methods or the electoral course of,” she mentioned.
CISA Senior Advisor, Cait Conley, echoed this sentiment, stating that present safety measures are sturdy sufficient to make sure these incidents is not going to impression vote-casting or tabulation methods.
The PSA additionally cautioned the general public to be cautious of disinformation, notably efforts by malicious actors to unfold false claims about cyber incidents to undermine confidence within the electoral course of. The FBI and CISA proceed to collaborate with election officers and different companions to guard the integrity of US elections.
“We are going to proceed to work tirelessly with our election infrastructure companions to uphold the American folks’s confidence in 2024 elections and our democratic course of,” Conley concluded.
