Election Security: Protecting the Foundation of the Democracy (S1E10)

Part 2: Transparency, Reporting & Misinformation

This is a fantastic podcast if you are interested in perspectives on election security from election officials, academia, and cybersecurity practitioners. This discussion begins by putting you in the seat of election officials who must mitigate technological concerns that involve transparency and security at the same time.

Most listeners know that in 2020, election professionals will be charged with running the largest absentee or mail ballot election ever. One inherent aspect of this kind of voting is a delay in results reporting.

This time gap allows malicious actors to facilitate man-in-the-middle attacks where they present fake results. This election could be a tumultuous time where attackers do not have to necessarily disrupt the election, but merely have to cause voters to not trust the results.

The actual hacking of the machines is of a secondary concern. This idea is expressed by the University of Florida’s Dr. Juan Gilbert. He agrees with the others that the real risk is a misinformation campaign.

Steve Moore from Exabeam suggests there is a possibility where results are stolen, and ransomware is used to determine the results of the election.

This election has over 8,800 local officials and, despite all the potential issues like stolen credentials, misinformation, and machine hacking, most of the experts were optimistic about the success of the endeavor.

To view this webinar: Election Security: Protecting the Foundation of Democracy – The Digital Infrastructure.

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Featured Speakers:

• Paul Lux, Supervisor of Elections, Okaloosa County Florida
• Dr. Juan Gilbert, Endowed Professor & Chair, Computer & I.S. & Eng. Dept., University of Florida
• Benjamin Hovland, Commissioner, U.S. Election Assistance Commission
• Steve Moore, Vice President & Chief Security Strategist, Exabeam
• Pete Zurbach, Vice President, Innovation, NS2 Labs.