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More than 100 election jurisdictions waiting on federal cyber help, sources say (nbcnews.com)
More than 100 state and local election jurisdictions that reached out to the federal government for help ensuring the digital security of their election-related systems have instead found themselves on a waitlist ahead of next week’s midterm elections, according to two people familiar with the backlog.
The tests in demand from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — the Department of Homeland Security department responsible for providing tools to protect state-run election systems — include risk and vulnerability assessments as well as penetration tests, both of which determine how vulnerable computer networks are to hackers, including foreign state actors.
States are not required to undergo such tests. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, offers the services on a voluntary basis.
The vast majority of voting machines are not connected to the internet, meaning a credible threat from foreign hackers on the election system as a whole is practically impossible. But some election information does run through the internet, like voting registration, official information about how and where to vote, and election officials’ email systems. So it could be possible to delete voters from rolls or change the way a website projects an election winner, creating chaos and confusion.
In a statement, CISA did not deny the backlog but noted the agency has provided free cyber hygiene tests for what CISA says are 425 “election-related entities” across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. These tests are less labor intensive than the ones on backlog.
“We have found most organizations derive the greatest benefit from cyber hygiene vulnerability scanning, shared services, and capabilities offered in our free services catalog,” said Kim Wyman, CISA’s senior election security lead.
Both sources attributed the backlog in part to staffing shortages at CISA. A major contractor, Idaho National Labs, recently stopped providing such services to states and election machine manufacturers, according to a spokesperson for the company.
