Cyber Could Take Center Stage in 2020 US Presidential Elections

by Bret Bergman
Contributing Editor

Cyber could take center stage in 2020 US presidential elections…you can help.

Since the election appears to be on just about everyone’s mind, I thought I’d take a break from my usual OT cyber domain and spend a minute on election security.  Although the Iowa caucus debacle appears not to have been cybersecurity related, it did underscore challenges with online voting apps/systems.

The following two articles form Dark Reading are a good primer for understanding the challenges:

1. https://www.darkreading.com/risk/how-can-we-make-election-technology-secure/a/d-id/1336975
2. https://www.darkreading.com/risk/5-measures-to-harden-election-technology-/a/d-id/1336978

My ask is to all of you politically active “cybernauts” out there.  Ask your local officials what steps are being taken to address cyber security. Elections are a highly local event. This is even true for our federal presidential elections. The only role the federal government plays is to make funding available to the states to make their elections more secure.  It’s up to the Secretaries of State and the counties to figure out how to secure their state’s elections.   

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) includes $425 million in new Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds.  It is made available to states to improve the administration of elections for Federal office, including to enhance technology and make election security improvements (read this to learn more about how it works).

The bottom line is that the states/counties need help, and many don’t know where to start.  So this is where you come in…rather than do nothing, reach out to your preferred party’s election office and ask what they are doing to secure their elections. They will only take action if they are prompted and reminded constantly of the importance.  We know the threats and we know not enough is being done. At this point, all it takes is a simple question ‘what are you doing to secure our election?’