The 2020 U.S. election is dragging on into a third day of uncertainty as we wait for results from four key battleground states, but one thing is for sure: the election went off without any cybersecurity incidents, according to officials.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency in a statement on Wednesday said there was no evidence of a foreign adversary meddling in the outcome of the election.
“Over the last four years, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been a part of a whole-of-nation effort to ensure American voters decide American elections,” CISA Director Christopher Krebs said in a statement.
“Importantly, after millions of Americans voted, we have no evidence any foreign adversary was capable of preventing Americans from voting or changing vote tallies.”
Election security has been a focal point of the 2020 election with concerns stemming from the 2016 election in which nation states like Russia are believed to have launched disinformation campaigns aimed at influencing how people vote.
Multiple cybersecurity experts – as well as leading technology firms like Microsoft – have warned that those threat actors are again targeting the election in similar ways and with more technical attacks like ransomware.
Krebs gave credit to state and local election workers along with technology partners who worked on boosting the security of the country’s elections.
“We are only here because of the hard work of state and local election officials and private sector partners who have focused efforts on enhancing the security and resilience of elections,” Krebs said.
“The United States government supported these partners throughout the election, bringing the full range of capabilities to bear in securing systems and pushing back against malicious actors seeking to disrupt our process and interfere in our election.”
However, the election isn’t over, as CISA made note.
A final result could not even be known until the end of the week, so security officials are remaining “vigilant” and monitoring for attempts by foreign actors to target or disrupt the ongoing vote counting and certification.
“American people are the last line of defense against foreign influence efforts and we encourage continued patience in the coming days and weeks,” Krebs said.
Companies like Microsoft have been relaying information about potential cyber attacks centered around the election and even took action to disrupt one of the world’s most prolific distributors of malware and ransomware leading up to the election.
Other security experts have told My TechDecisions that election infrastructure in the U.S. is at risk of compromise because many systems are running on out-of-date solutions.
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