A senior agency official announced Tuesday that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is assembling an Election Day operations center with election security partners from across the government and the commercial sector. The agency is virtually connected to election authorities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories in order to enable the exchange of information and facilitate the resolution of any difficulties that may arise.
The senior CISA official told reporters that there are presently “no specific and credible threats to disrupt election infrastructure” and that the agency has “great confidence in the security and resilience of elections.”
The official acknowledged that problems are likely. “There are 8,800 electoral jurisdictions – on election day, issues arise,” stated the official.
CISA has not yet found or ascribed any malicious cyber activity targeting electoral infrastructure, but the official cautioned of the possibility of “low-level cyber activity,” such as denial-of-service assaults and website defacement.
The official added that election-related internet outages could occur for absolutely benign reasons. “It is vital to recall that such behavior would not impair a voter’s ability to cast a ballot or know that their ballot was accurately tallied, nor would it compromise the integrity of the election.”
In response to Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin’s admission on Monday that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so in the future, a CISA official stated that Russia’s “playbook is out there” and that the agency will continue to partner with officials to protect elections.
The diplomat underlined that Russia, Iran, and China remain major participants. While Russia began its interference in 2016, an official stated that Iran’s influence activities intensified in 2020. The official stated, “Then in 2022, we noticed China engaging in influence behavior.”
When asked to expand on China’s activities, the official referred to prior statements made by the Department of Justice and Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
“My point is… we have observed new participants who did not actively participate in the 2020 election willing to do so in 2022,” the official explained.
The agency is aware of potential problems with voting equipment in Virginia, according to the official, who added that CISA has “made contact.” The agency is aware of isolated, routine concerns throughout the state, “but there is no evidence of a widespread failure of voting technology.”
The source stated that CISA will continue updating its “Rumor vs. Reality” blog to battle any misinformation or disinformation surrounding the election.