Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Monday hosted a call with national election officials to discuss the cyber security of the election infrastructure and to offer his department’s help in managing risks to voting systems.
The call with members of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and other Chief Election Officials follows disclosures this summer that Russian authorities likely hacked the computer systems of two national Democratic organizations and leaked internal emails to WikiLeaks.
Johnson said earlier this month that the Department of Homeland Security is considering designating the nation’s election systems as critical infrastructure, which formally enables the federal government to work with owners and operators of the infrastructure to manage risks and strengthen resilience. A department spokesman told Defense Daily on Wednesday that DHS still hasn’t made a decision on designating the election systems as critical infrastructure.
In the call on Monday, Johnson told the election officials that DHS, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Justice Department are available to provide support and assistance related to cyber security and encouraged them to focus on implementing existing recommendations from NIST and the EAC. He offered assistance from the department’s around-the-clock cyber watch center, the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, to provide vulnerability scans, actionable information, and other tools and resources for bolstering cyber security.
Johnson also said that the department is looking for ways to provide more support that is “non-prescriptive,” to include designation of the sector as critical infrastructure.
Johnson also announced that DHS is convening a Voting Infrastructure Cybersecurity Action Campaign that will bring together experts in government and the private sector to raise awareness of cyber security risks that could potentially affect election systems and to highlight ways to strengthen the security and resilience of the electoral process. The NASS was invited to join this group.
Earlier this month two Democrats in Congress, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the ranking members on their respective chambers’ Homeland Security Committees, wrote Johnson urging him to designate the nation’s election systems as critical infrastructure.