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Electonic Voting
CISA Cyber Security Department of Homeland Security Election Election Security Elections Electonic Voting

CISA Launches Major Effort to Secure the 2024 U.S. Elections

 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the United States has initiated a comprehensive campaign to secure the 2024 elections. This effort involves deploying specialized advisory teams across the nation and coordinating security exercises with federal, state, and local officials, as well as with private sector partners. Cait Conley, a senior adviser at CISA, emphasized that securing the elections is a priority that involves the entire agency. 

In preparation for the 2024 national elections, CISA created election security adviser positions within its ten regional offices in July 2023 to offer frontline support to local election officials. These advisers are now fully in place and work closely with state election offices to provide guidance and assistance. The agency recently organized a four-day workshop, “Tabletop the Vote,” to enhance readiness against both cyber and physical threats. Conley noted that CISA is investing more resources than ever before to safeguard election infrastructure. 

This builds on the agency’s past successes in securing the 2016 and 2020 elections, which saw the implementation of advanced threat detection and response measures that thwarted interference attempts by foreign adversaries, including Russia. CISA is also preparing for new threats. Recently, the agency warned of increased cyber activity from Iran aimed at disrupting the upcoming election cycle. The Department of Homeland Security has classified election infrastructure as critical to national security, underscoring the importance of protecting voter registration databases, information technology systems, polling places, and voting machines. 

To support this mission, CISA has introduced several tools and resources designed to enhance election security. These include a comprehensive cybersecurity toolkit through the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative and a “Rumor vs. Reality” platform to counter disinformation about elections. Over the past several years, the agency has also rolled out free services like vulnerability scanning and physical security assessments to minimize risks to election systems. 

CISA Director Jen Easterly highlighted the significant improvements in the agency’s capabilities compared to 2016. As the 2024 elections approach, CISA remains committed to deploying its resources and strengthening partnerships to protect the democratic process from evolving threats. The agency’s continued efforts aim to ensure that election infrastructure remains secure against any potential interference. 
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Site Hacked
Cyber Attacks Cyber Criminals DDoS DDOS Attack Electonic Voting Site Hacked

Russian Electronic Voting System Struck by 19 DDoS Attacks in One Day

 

Yandex, the Russian technology and search engine powerhouse, disclosed last week that it had been hit by one of the world's biggest DDoS attacks ever recorded. 

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack involves flooding a website or service with a large amount of internet traffic until it stops working and eventually goes down. Cybercriminals have been known to create botnets and launch DDoS attacks using hacked systems or vulnerable/exposed Internet of Things (IoT) devices. 

Russia's remote electronic voting system has now become the next victim of the campaign, as to what appears to be a continuation of targeted DDoS attacks. 

According to reports, the 8th Russian State Duma (lower house) elections took place between September 17 and September 19. Voters had to head to the polls to cast their vote for the heads of nine Russian regions and 39 regional parliaments. 

According to Russian news agency Tass, remote electronic voting took place in six locations, including Sevastopol and the regions of Kursk, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, and Yaroslavl. 

Around 19 DDoS attempts were thwarted, according to Mikhail Oseevsky, president of Rostelecom. The head of the country's major digital service provider, Rostelecom, told the reporters at the Central Election Commission's information centre that some of the DDoS assaults were very short, spanning only a few minutes, while the biggest lasted 5 hours and 32 minutes. 

“It (the DDoS attack) began early in the morning and ended in the middle of the day,” Oseevsky disclosed. 

Many of the country's digital resources, including the elections, state services websites, and the CEC's portal, were attacked, according to Oseevsky. 

He continued by stating that there have been several efforts to launch large-scale attacks on these resources. The department, on the other hand, was well-prepared to combat and minimise the threat, according to the president. 

The assaults arose from a number of different countries which include: 
  • India 
  • China 
  • Brazil 
  • Russia 
  • Germany 
  • Thailand 
  • Lithuania 
  • Bangladesh 
  • United States 
According to the elections commission, three targeted cyberattacks were documented from abroad, two of which targeted the centre's main website and the third was a DDoS attack.
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