Homeland Security chief weighs plan to protect voting from hackers
On the heels of the听Democratic National Convention hack and the political fallout that is ensuing months before the presidential election, the country's Homeland Security chief said he's considering measures that would strengthen cybersecurity protections for voting.
It鈥檚 time for the US government to "carefully consider" whether America鈥檚 election system should be considered as critical infrastructure, which would trigger greater digital security measures for electronic voting machines, said听Jeh Johnson on Aug. 3 at a听Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters.
Like exciting critical infrastructure sectors such as electric utilities and water treatment plants, 鈥淭here鈥檚 vital interest in our election process,鈥� said Mr. Johnson.听"We鈥檙e actively thinking about the election and cybersecurity right now."
If the US considered the election process as a critical infrastructure, the听designation would have significant implications to how federal officials would respond to a possible cyberattack.听There is no timeline yet for making that designation, but Johnson said he's considering reaching out to election officials.
There is not one federal election system, but rather 9,000 jurisdictions involved in voting across America that collect, tally, and report of votes. And as more voting machines are automated and election districts rely more heavily on computers to count votes, elections are more susceptible to cyberattacks, 听
The DNC hack brought the dangers associated with hackers meddling in the US political process听into focus. After the organization discovered the intrusion, they did not seek the assistance of Homeland Security.听
Johnson noted that a recent听White House directive on how the nation should respond to significant cyberattacks named Homeland Security as the听agency for 鈥渇ixing and patching鈥� vulnerabilities that could affect critical infrastructure.
"I鈥檓 the fireman," Johnson said, adding that FBI Director James Comey "is the cop."
But while the White House has pointed to Homeland Security as the leading agency for responding to digital intrusions and attacks, the agency's capabilities for handing such incidents has been questioned by both experts and politicians.
Last year, Sen. Tom Coburn, then the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to ensure sufficient cybersecurity protections for critical infrastructure.听
If the agency's responsibilities for cybersecurity are expanded to US election systems, the DHS would have some work on its hands.听
Take, for example, voting machines. 鈥淯nfortunately, we鈥檙e not treating voting machines as the core pieces of critical infrastructure that they are,鈥� cybersecurity expert Scott Shackelford 听"So far, the machinery undergirding our democratic institutions has not received the same level of scrutiny as other critical infrastructure sectors such as our power lines and wastewater plants."
There are a number of voting machines in districts across the country that are digital and connected to the internet.听
In a 2012 pilot program to test online voting in Washington, for example, researchers from the University of Michigan were able to hack the government website 鈥渟o that the university鈥檚 fight song would play after a vote was cast,鈥� added Dr. Schackelford, an associate professor at Indiana University.
"To put it plainly," he said, "voting is in many ways just as important to our long-term prosperity as functioning telecom networks and financial systems."
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to correct the date of Homeland Security Secretary听Jeh Johnson's comments. He spoke on Aug. 3 at a Monitor breakfast in Washington.
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